Characterization of hierarchical α-MoO3 plates toward resistive heating synthesis: electrochemical activity of α-MoO3/Pt modified electrode toward methanol oxidation at neutral pH

The growth of MoO 3 hierarchical plates was obtained by direct resistive heating of molybdenum foil at ambient pressure in absence of any catalysts and templates. Plates synthesized after 60 min resistive heating typically growth in an single-crystalline orthorhombic structure that develop preferentially in [001] direction, as characterized by HRTEM, SAD and Raman-scattering measurements. They are about 100-200nm in thickness and a few tens micrometers in length. As heating time proceeds to 80 min, plates of α-MoO 3 form a branched structure. A more attentive look shows that a primary plates formed at until 60 min could serve as substrates for the subsequent growth of secondary belts. Moreover, a full electrochemical characterization of α-MoO 3 plates on platinum electrodes was done by Cyclic Voltammetric experiments, at pH 7 in phosphate buffer, to probe the activity of the proposed composite material as anode to methanol electrooxidation. Reported results indicate that Pt MoO 3 modified electrodes are appropriate to develop new amperometric non-enzymatic sensor for methanol measurements and as anode in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs) making at neutral pH.