Orientador: Hebe de Las Mercedes Villullas / Banca: Romeu Cardozo Rocha Filho / Banca: Joelma Perez / Resumo: Neste trabalho foram sintetizadas nanopartículas de Pt, PtFe, PtNi, PtCo, PtFeNi e PtFeCo suportadas em pó de carbono através do método da microemulsão, que foram testadas como potenciais eletrocatalisadores frente a reação de redução do oxigênio (RRO). As propriedades eletrônicas dos materiais foram investigadas por XAS (Espectroscopia de Absorção de Raios X) e as propriedades estruturais e morfológicas por DRX (Difração de Raios X) e MET (Microscopia Eletrônica de Transmissão), respectivamente. A área superficial de platina eletroquimicamente ativa foi determinada a partir de dados de voltametria cíclica, enquanto a atividade eletrocatalítica para a RRO foi estudada em soluções de H2SO4 saturadas com O2, utilizando a técnica do eletrodo de disco rotatório. Em geral, a análise dos materiais binários e ternários mostrou uma diminuição no parâmetro de rede em relação à platina pura, o que é um indicativo da formação de liga. O método de síntese escolhido permitiu a obtenção de cristalitos com faixa de tamanhos em torno de 3 nm. Somente os materiais contendo nanopartículas trimetálicas apresentaram alto grau de aglomeração e uma distribuição não homogênea sobre o carbono suporte. As análises eletroquímicas sugerem que a RRO segue majoritariamente o mecanismo via 4 elétrons em todos os catalisadores estudados nesse trabalho. O estudo das propriedades eletrônicas indica que a presença de Fe, Ni e Co contribui para o preenchimento da banda 5d da platina. Todas estas informações foram correlacionadas na tentativa de se entender a razão pela qual os catalisadores trimetálicos, principalmente o PtFeCo/C, apresentaram atividade superior para a RRO quando comparados com os bimetálicos e a Pt/C. Os materiais ternários foram submetidos a tratamento térmico a 150 ºC em atmosfera de H2 por uma hora... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In this work, nanoparticles of Pt, PtFe, PtNi, PtCo, PtFeNi and PtFeCo supported on carbon powder were synthesized by a microemulsion method and tested as potential electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The electronic properties of the materials were investigated by XAS (X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy) and the structural and morphological properties by XRD (X-ray diffraction) and TEM (Transmission Electronic Microscopy), respectively. The platinum electrochemically active surface area was determined from cyclic voltammetry data while the electrocatalytic activity toward the ORR was studied using the rotating disk electrode technique in O2 saturated H2SO4 solutions. Overall, the analyses of the materials showed a decrease in the lattice parameter when compared to pure Pt, which suggests alloy formation. The chosen synthesis method allowed obtaining small crystallites with average size around 3 nm. Only the catalysts containing trimetallic nanoparticles were highly agglomerated and showed an inhomogeneous distribution of particles on the carbon support. The electrochemical analyses suggest that the ORR occurs mainly through the 4 electron mechanism on all catalysts studied in this work. The study of the electronic properties evidenced that the presence of Fe, Ni and Co increases the platinum 5d-band occupancy. All results were correlated aiming a better understanding of why the trimetallic catalysts, particularly PtFeCo/C, have significantly higher ORR activity than bimetallic materials and Pt/C. The trimetallic catalysts were heat treated at 150 ºC in a H2 atmosphere during one hour. As a result, the materials showed a minor increase in alloying degree, an increase in particle size, a slightly decrease in surface area and a more filled Pt 5d-band. Thermal treatment did not cause any... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Hebe de las Mercedes Villullas / Coorientador: Elisete Aparecida Batista / Banca: Antonio Carlos Dias Angelo / Banca: Adalgisa Rodrigues de Andrade / Resumo: Células a combustível são dispositivos promissores devido a sua alta eficiência na conversão de energia química em energia elétrica com baixo ou nenhum impacto ambiental. O desempenho das células de baixa temperatura de operação depende, dentre outros fatores, do catalisador utilizado, composto geralmente de platina na forma de nanopartículas suportadas sobre carbono de alta área superficial. Metanol é um dos combustíveis que pode ser empregado nas células, no entanto sua eletro-oxidação gera espécies intermediárias, como o CO, que permanecem fortemente adsorvidas nos sítios da platina "envenenando" o catalisador, e que são oxidadas apenas em potenciais elevados. O presente trabalho consistiu na preparação de nanopartículas de PtRuM/C (M = Fe ou Sn) ancoradas sobre carbono de alta área superficial, analisando a influência do terceiro metal na atividade eletrocatalítica frente à reação de oxidação de metanol. Os catalisadores foram preparados pelo método de microemulsão e tratados termicamente em atmosfera inerte. A caracterização das propriedades físicas foi realizada por difratometria de raios X (DRX), microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (TEM), espectroscopia de fotoelétrons excitados por raios X (XPS) e espectroscopia de absorção de raios X dispersivos (DXAS). O comportamento eletroquímico geral dos catalisadores foi avaliado por voltametria cíclica em meio ácido e a atividade eletrocatalítica para a de oxidação de metanol foi estudada por varredura linear de potencial e cronoamperometria. A análise dos produtos e intermediários da oxidação de metanol foi realizada quantitativamente e qualitativamente por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência (HPLC) e espectroscopia de infravermelho por transformada de Fourier (FTIR) in-situ. Os resultados para eletro-oxidação de metanol demonstram que... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Fuel cells are promising devices because of its high efficiency in converting chemical energy to electrical energy with low or no environmental impact. The cell performance depends, among other factors, on the catalysts used, usually consisting of platinum nanoparticles supported on high surface area carbon. Methanol is one of the fuels that can be used in a fuel cell. However, its electro-oxidation produces intermediate species, such as CO, which remain strongly adsorbed on the platinum sites, "poisoning" the catalyst surface because their oxidation takes place only in high potentials. In this work, PtRuM/C (M = Fe or Sn) nanoparticles supported on high surface area carbon were prepared and the influence of the third metal in the electrocatalytic activity toward methanol oxidation was analyzed. The catalysts were prepared in microemulsions and heat treated in an inert atmosphere. Characterization of physical properties was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and dispersive X-ray absorption spectroscopy (DXAS). The general electrochemical behavior of the catalysts was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry in acidic solution while the electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation was studied by linear potential sweeps and chronoamperometry. Analysis of the products of methanol oxidation was performed qualitatively and quantitatively by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and in-situ Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results for the electro-oxidation of methanol demonstrate that addition of Sn improves the activity of the materials, while the presence of Fe is detrimental. Moreover, data also revealed that heat treatment promoted... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Magister Scientiae - MSc / In this work a modified polyol method was developed to synthesize in-house catalysts. The method was modified for maximum delivery of product and proved to be quick and efficient as well as cost effective. The series of IH catalysts were characterized using techniques such as UV-vis and FT-IR spectroscopy, TEM, XRD, ICP and CV. The polyol method developed effectively reduced and deposited Pt nanoparticles onto different carbon supports. Functionalization of some of the supports was also successfully carried out through acid oxidative treatment which introduced carboxylic acid and hydroxyl groups onto the surface of the supporting material, which was supported by FT-IR which demonstrated that there was a relative increase in absorbance of functionalities viz., carboxylic acid (1270 cm-1) and hydroxyl groups on the surface of the acid treated MWCNT’s-F compared to the untreated MWCNT’s. Addition of a sedimentation promoter proved to increase the amount of metal deposition on the support thereby improving the loading dramatically. It was also found that addition of a specific amount of water in the polyol method allowed one to control the particle growth during the deposition phase on the various carbon supports investigated namely; XC-72 carbon, MWCNT’s and MWCNT’s-F. The in-house catalysts synthesized namely; Pt/C-IH, Pt/MWCNT’s-IH and Pt/MWCNT’s-F-IH all displayed narrow particle size distributions with average mean particle sizes of 2-5 nm, 2-6 nm and 3-6 nm respectively which was in good agreement with particle size measurements obtained from XRD using the Scherrer formula. All measured CV’s obtained for the series of IH catalysts prepared by this protocol were comparable with the commercial catalyst. The IH catalysts displayed the characteristic XRD peaks associated with Pt on carbon supports in acidic media. The ORR measurements for Pt/MWCNT’s-F-IH (functionalised) proved to be slightly superior (0.058 A/cm2) compared to that of the commercial catalyst (0.047 A/cm2) at a potential of 0.3V. This was attributed to the fact that the addition of water effectively controlled particle growth and deposition onto the support, and the fact that MWCNT’s-F offered a larger surface area and with the functionalized surface offering anchorage sites for Pt nanoparticles through carboxylic and hydroxyl functional groups. Further attempts to modify the developed polyol method using NaOAc as an electrostatic stabilizer to control the growth of Pt nanoparticles were made. It was found that although the stabilizer employed effectively stabilized Pt nanoparticles supported on XC-72 carbon, in our hands we were not able to produce the same results in the case of Pt supported on the MWCNT’s. TEM images revealed that Pt/CNaOAc displayed narrow particle size distribution with a mean particle size of 2-5 nm whereas particle agglomeration was observed for Pt/MWCNT’s-NaOAc and Pt/MWCNT’s-F-NaOAc with a broader particle size distribution and average mean particle sizes of 2-7 and 2-8 nm in diameter respectively. The CV’s obtained for these modified IH catalysts were in the main comparable to that of the commercial catalyst. However ORR activities of the IH Pt/C-NaOAc catalysts when carefully compared to the commercial catalyst revealed that it was indeed slightly superior (0.064 A/cm2). This is mainly attributed to the narrow particle size and even distribution of particles on the carbon support and resembled the best particle required to provide maximum activity in the ORR as a consequence of the facial kinetics involved. / South Africa

Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Syntheses, spectral, electrochemical, and spectroelectrochemical studies of iron, cobalt, and manganese phthalocyanines are reported. The novel coordination of cobalt tetracarboxy metallophthalocyanine to an electrode premodified with aryl radicals and its use in the detection of thiocyanate are reported. This work describes the catalytic activity of cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) derivatives adsorbed onto glassy carbon electrodes for the electrocatalytical detection of nitrite, Lcysteine, and melatonin. The modified electrodes efficiently detected nitrite. The CoPc derivative modified electrodes proficiently detected L-cysteine whereas an un-modified electrode could not. This work presents the innovative electrochemical detection of melatonin using electrodes adsorbed with CoPc derivatives. These electrodes detected melatonin at more favorable electrochemical parameters relative to an un-modified gold electrode. The limits of melatonin detection of the modified electrodes lay in the 10⁻⁷ to 10⁻⁶ M region. The modified electrodes accurately detected capsule melatonin concentrations as specified by the supplier and could differentiate between a mixture of melatonin, tryptophan, and ascorbic acid. They reliably detected nitrite, L-cysteine, and melatonin in the 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻² M region. Metallophthalocyanine complexes substituted with thio groups were employed as self assembled monolayers (SAMs). Voltammetry, impedance, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electrochemical microscopy proved that the SAMs all act as selective and efficient barriers to ion permeability. All the SAMs in this work can be used as effective electrochemical sensors of nitrite and L-cysteine in the 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻² M region with competitive limits of detection whereas an un-modified electrode cannot detect Lcysteine. The manganese phthalocyanine SAM modified electrodes are arguably better nitrite and L-cysteine electrocatalysts relative to their iron and cobalt counterparts. Manganese phthalocyanines were used as superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimics. All manganese phthalocyanine complexes in this work acted as SOD mimics in an enzymatic system of superoxide production. From cellular studies, complexes 6d, 6e, 8d, 8e act as intracellular SOD mimics and are without significantly high cellular toxicity.

Les Polyoxométallates (POMs) sont obtenus par acidification d'une solution contenant des oxoanions [MOx]ⁿ⁻. L'élément M se trouve dans son plus haut degré d'oxydation et représente, d'une façon générale, un atome de tungstène, de molybdène, de vanadium, de niobium, ou de plus en plus des éléments nobles, tels que le palladium ou l'or. Ces espèces représentent un énorme potentiel, tant leurs propriétés en termes de taille, forme et composition peuvent être variables. Les dimensions de certaines structures peuvent dépasser plusieurs dizaines d'angström. Enfin, les POMs sont reconnus comme de véritables réservoirs d'électrons. Selon leur état de réduction, ils font office de donneur ou d’accepteur dans des processus d'échanges réversibles d'électrons. L'ensemble de ces propriétés (structurales, composition atomique, électrochimiques, physico-chimiques) en fait d'excellents candidats pour l'élaboration de systèmes électro-catalytiques. Les POMs constituent donc des nano-objets privilégiés pour des études de mécanismes réactionnels en électrochimie. Une étape nécessaire de ce travail consistera donc en la caractérisation électrochimique des POMs pour en déduire leurs possibilités en électro-catalyse. Les études effectuées en solution par toutes les techniques classiques de l'électrochimie sont également possibles à l'état solide avec l'apport de techniques complémentaires. En effet, les POMs peuvent être utilisés également pour modifier les surfaces d'électrodes auxquelles ils peuvent conférer des propriétés catalytiques remarquables vis-à-vis de divers substrats. A titre d'exemple, la fabrication d'électrodes modifiées par des POMs, selon des techniques variées (adsorption, dépôt électrolytique, confinement dans un polymère conducteur ou non, confinement par procédé sol-gel ou procédé couche par couche) conduit à l'étude fondamentale de la propagation de charges dans des films, et est réalisée en couplant l'électrochimie et la microbalance à cristal de quartz. En résumé, l'investigation systématique des propriétés électrochimiques de nouvelles molécules de POMs en vue d'applications en électro-catalyse constitue l'ossature de ce projet. Les systèmes les plus prometteurs seront sélectionnés et l'accent sera mis sur le développement de dispositifs efficaces dans la réduction du dioxygène et des oxydes d'azote et la production de l'hydrogène notamment. / Polyoxometalates (POMs) are metallic oxides obtained upon acidification of a solution containing oxoanions [MOx]ⁿ⁻. The metal element M is in its highest oxidation state and often consists of an atom of tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium or niobium, and more recently noble metal atoms such as palladium or gold. These species have an enormous potential, since their properties such as size, shape and composition may be varied. POMs are considered as electron reservoirs, and depending on their oxidation state, they may behave either as electron donors or as electron acceptors in reversible electron transfer processes, often coupled to proton exchange. Taken together, these properties (structural, elemental composition, electrochemical, physico-chemical) render them excellent candidates to obtain electro-catalytic systems and privileged entities for the study of reaction mechanisms in electrochemistry. One of the major purposes of this work is the electrochemical characterisation of new POM species in order to assess their potential applications in electro-catalysis. Studies carried out in solution by any conventional technique of electrochemistry are also possible in the solid state with the addition of complementary techniques. Indeed, POMs can also be used to modify the electrode surfaces to which they may impart remarkable catalytic properties towards various substrates. For example, the manufacture of POM-modified electrodes, according to various techniques (adsorption, electroplating, confinement in a conductive polymer or not, containment by sol-gel processes or by layer-by-layer procedures) allows to carry out fundamental studies of charge transfer in films, which is achieved by coupling electrochemistry with the quartz crystal microbalance. In summary, the systematic investigation of the electrochemical properties of new molecules of POMs for applications in electro-catalysis is the backbone of this project. The most promising systems will be selected and the focus will be on developing effective devices for the reduction of oxygen and nitrogen oxides and for the production of hydrogen in particular.

With the blend of addressing issues of sustainable energy with the environmental worries regarding emission of greenhouse gases, there is a motivation to target the efficient chemical reduction of CO2. Re(I) integrated photosensitizers and catalysts, synthesized from commercially available ligands, are introduced with the selective CO2 reduction of formic acid, making for a unique class of Re(I) catalysts typically selective for CO as a reduction product. Furthermore, synthesized Zn(II) phosphino aminopyridine complexes are structurally and computationally characterized as well as observed to function as unprecedented electrocatalysts for the reduction of CO2 to formic acid and CO. Lastly, with the importance and popularity of N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) as a class of ligands in the field of organometallic catalysis, six-membered perimidine based carbenes are further explored. Synthesis of a chelating pyridyl-perimidine NHC in addition to potential transition metal catalysts are also attempted.

This thesis presents an integrated study of nanocatalysts for heterogenous catalytic and electrochemical processes using pure ruthenium (Ru) with mixed-phase and platinum-based nanomaterials synthesized by continuous-flow chemistry. There are three major challenges to the application of nanomaterials in heterogenous catalytic reactions and electrocatalytic processes in acidic solution. These challenges are the following: (i) controlling the size, shape and crystallography of nanoparticles to give the best catalytic properties, (ii) scaling these nanoparticles up to a commercial quantity (kg per day) and (iii) making stable nanoparticles that can be used catalytically without degrading in acidic electrolytes. Some crucial limitations of these nanostructured materials in energy conversion and storage applications were overcome by continuous-flow chemistry. By using a continuous-flow reactor, the creation of scalable nanoparticle systems was achieved and their functionality was modified to control the nanoparticles’ physical and chemical characteristics. The nanoparticles were also tested for long-term stability, to make sure these nanoparticles were feasible under realistic working conditions. These nanoparticles are (1) shape- and crystallography-controlled ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles, (2) size-controlled platinum-metal (Pt-M= nickel (Ni) & copper (Cu)) nanooctahedra (while maintaining morphology) and (3) core-shell platinum@ruthenium (Pt@Ru) nanoparticles where an ultrathin ruthenium shell was templated onto the platinum core. Thus, a complete experimental validation of the formation of a scalable amount of these nanoparticles and their catalytic activity and stability towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in acid medium, hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB) along with plausible explanations were provided.

Water electrolysis conjugated with renewable energy sources potentially realizes a sustainable society. Although the current electrolyzers operate at extreme pH to maximize the electrolysis efficiency, near-neutral pH conditions may optimize the overall system operation when conjugated with renewable energy sources. In this context, a study on the electrolysis in the mild conditions is essential. The dissertation investigates the water electrolysis in various conditions, with a particular focus placed on milder conditions, to rationalize and improve its performance. Microkinetic analysis was performed for the cathodic half-reaction in conjugation with mass transport evaluation using various electrode materials. The analysis revealed a significant universal influence of electrolyte properties on the reaction performances at near-neutral pH. Investigation of the associated electrolyte properties (ion size, viscosity and activity/fugacity) rationally optimized the reaction conditions. Together with the separately performed studies on the anodic half-reaction and system configurations, the finding was successfully transferred to electrocatalytic and solar-driven water splitting systems. The presented herein is a fundamental yet crucial aspect of water electrolysis, which can advance the water electrolysis for the future.

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