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PtBi/C e PdBi/C foram preparados em diferentes razões atômicas (100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 e 50:50) pelo método de redução via borohidreto de sódio (com adição total da solução de borohidreto em uma única etapa) utilizando H2PtCl6.6H2O, Pd(NO3)2, (BiNO3)3.5H2O como fonte de metais, Vulcan® (XC72-Cabot) como suporte de carbono e com uma carga metálica correspondente a 20% em massa. Os eletrocatalisadores obtidos foram caracterizados por difração de raios-X (DRX), microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (MET) e voltametria cíclica (VC). A atividade dos diferentes materiais preparados para a oxidação eletroquímica do ácido fórmico foi realizada em eletrólito ácido e alcalino utilizando-se as técnicas de voltametria cíclica, e cronoamperometria. Para estes estudos foi utilizado a técnica do eletrodo de camada fina porosa. A caracterização eletroquímica permitiu comparar o desempenho eletroquímico da platina e paládio, além de avaliar o benefício da presença do bismuto nas razões atômicas propostas. Os difratogramas de raio-X (DRX) confirmaram para todos os compostos de PtBi/C e PdBi/C a formação da estrutura cúbica de face centrada (cfc) característicos da rede cristalina da platina e do Paládio respectivamente. Outros picos encontrados foram associados a presença de fases de óxido de bismuto em ambos os compostos, PtBi/C e PdBi/C. A microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (MET) indicou que a presença de maiores teores de bismuto não acarretaram em aumento do tamanho médio da partícula. Os resultados eletroquímicos em meio alcalino indicaram que ainda é necessário uma otimização da concentração de ácido fórmico para que possamos observar melhores resultados quanto à adição de bismuto na platina ou paládio, no entanto os estudos em meio ácido mostraram o efeito benéfico da adição de bismuto tanto para platina quanto para o paládio. / PtBi/C and PdBi/C were prepared with different atomic ratios (100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50) by sodium borohydride reduction method (with total addition of the borohydride solution in just one step) using H2PtCl6.6H2O, Pd(NO3)2, (BiNO3)3.5H2O as source of metals, Vulcan® (XC72-Cabot) as carbon support and a metallic charge correspondent to 20% mass. The obtained electrocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The activity of the different materials used for the formic acid electrochemical oxidation was performed in acid and alkaline electrolyte through cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry, using the porous thin-film electrode technique. The electrochemical characterization allowed for the comparison between the platinum and palladium electrochemical performance, as well as the evaluation of the benefit of having bismuth in the proposed atomic ratios. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) diffractograms confirmed, for every PtBi/C and PdBi/C compounds, the formation of the face-centered cubic structure (fcc) distinctive to platinum and palladiums crystalline net, respectively. Other peaks were found associated to the presence of bismuth oxide phases in both compounds, PtBi/C and PdBi/C. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that a higher bismuth presence did not result in a larger particle size. The electrochemical results in alkaline medium indicated that an optimization on formic acid concentration is still necessary so that better results concerning bismuth addition to platinum or palladium could be observed, although the studies done in acid medium presented the beneficial effect of bismuth addition to both platinum and palladium.

A auto-organização é uma das principais características de sistemas naturais. Os fenômenos auto-organizados podem emergir em sistemas suficientemente afastados do equilíbrio termodinâmico. A não-linearidade intrínseca aos sistemas eletroquímicos, permite inúmeros exemplos de comportamento complexo, sendo, grande parte, em eletrocatálise. Apesar do considerável progresso no entendimento dos aspectos mecanísticos da eletro-oxidação oscilatória de moléculas orgânicas pequenas, aparentemente não existe nenhum estudo sistemático do impacto de modificadores superficiais na dinâmica oscilatória. Nesta tese de doutorado, a eletro-oxidação oscilatória do ácido fórmico em bimetálicos de platina, com estanho ou bismuto, é comparada com aquela obtida em platina policristalina. A modificação da superfície afeta drasticamente a dinâmica oscilatória. As oscilações auto-organizadas de potencial foram usadas como sonda para a atividade eletrocatalítica dos eletrodos bimetálicos de platina. Em intermetálicos ordenados de platina e estanho, a velocidade de envenenamento diminui significativamente, o que retarda a desativação da superfície e promove oscilações de longa duração, sem precedentes, com estabilização de mais de 2200 ciclos. Isto corresponde a 30-40 vezes mais estável com relação ao eletrodo de platina. A presença de estanho na superfície do eletrodo tem grande impacto na produção de CO2, como observado em experimentos, modelagem e simulações numéricas, com aumento na velocidade das etapas produtoras de CO2. Com as informações adicionais obtidas em regime oscilatório, frente os experimentos em estado estacionário, foi possível estimar o efeito catalítico dos modificadores como estanho ou bismuto em eletrodos de platina, bem como, alguns aspectos mecanísticos da eletro-oxidação de formaldeído, ácido fórmico, metanol e etanol. / The self-organization is one of the most important features of nature. The self-organization phenomenon can emerge in sufficiently far from thermodynamic equilibrium systems. The non-linearity laws of the electrochemistry systems, allows several examples of complex behavior, most of them in electrocatalysis. Despite the considerable progress in understanding of the mechanistic aspects of the oscillatory electro-oxidation of C1 molecules, there is a apparently no systematic studies concerning the impact of surfaces modifiers on the oscillations dynamics. In this doctoral thesis the electro-oxidation of formic acid on platinum bimetallic electrodes, with tin and bismuth, was compared to that observed on polycrystalline platinum electrodes. Overall, the obtained results were very reproducible, robust and allowed a detailed analysis on the correlation between the catalytic activity and the oscillation dynamics. The modified surfaces promote drastic effect on the oscillatory dynamics. The self-organized oscillations were used as a probe to the electrocatalytic activity of bimetallic electrodes. In ordered intermetallic electrodes of the platinum and tin, the rate of surface poisoning significantly decrease, which slow the surface deactivation and promotes long-lasting oscillations, unprecedented stabilization of more than 2200 oscillatory cycles. This corresponds to 30-40 fold stabilization with respect to the behavior of platinum electrodes. The adsorbed tin affects the reaction pathways that produce CO2, as observed in experiments, modeling and numerical simulations. Further information obtained in oscillatory regime permitted the estimative of the catalytic effect of the surface modifiers, such as tin and bismuth, and some mechanistic aspects of the electro-oxidation of formaldehyde, formic acid, methanol and ethanol.

Atmospheric corrosion takes place on most metals as they interact with thesurrounding environment. A degradation of the metal is the common result,which often leads to a shortened lifespan of the material. Hence, knowledge onthe fundamental interaction between a gas containing corrosive constituentsand a metal surface, which is the starting point of atmospheric corrosion, isimportant in many contexts. As the nature of atmospheric corrosion is inherentlycomplex, it imposes demands on the analytical studies that are neededin order to understand the fundamentals on a molecular level. Consequently,in-situ vibrational techniques, providing molecular information, have beenutilized in this work to study atmospheric corrosion by targeting the initialstages of the interaction between corrosive air and a metal surface. The initialstages (from minutes until days of exposure) were studied as these havea large influence on the atmospheric corrosion for prolonged exposure times. More specifically, the interaction between humidified air to which organicacids were added, and zinc was targeted in order to address a situation inindoor atmospheric corrosion, where organic acids are of importance. Zinc isa constituent in e.g. brass, which is an alloy used in many indoor applications. A systematic investigation utilizing complementary acting vibrational techniquesthus enabled detailed information on the mechanisms of the onsetof atmospheric corrosion of zinc induced by acetic and formic acid. Corrosionproducts of both two dimensional and three dimensional character couldbe separately studied by combining VSFS (interface sensitive), IRAS (nearsurfacesensitive), and CRM (bulk sensitive). The Zn surface was found to be heterogeneous with different hydroxylgroups present on the surface. As this surface was exposed to formic or aceticacid, the OH groups on the surface were rapidly displaced in a ligand exchangewith formate or acetate. These ligands, organised in two dimensionalstructures, promoted corrosion by weakening the bonds of the Zn atoms totheir surrounding matrix. The subsequent growth of three dimensional corrosion products, Zn hydroxyacetate and formate, observed within short exposure times of Zn exposedto acetic and formic acid, was found to be electrochemical in nature.Cathodic areas consisting of more crystalline ZnO were observed. The potentialdifference between these more noble areas on the surface and those of lessnoble character created an electrochemical cell, initiating release of Zn ionsinto the aqueous adlayer in the anodic reactions. These Zn ions precipitatedas localised corrosion products. The cathodic areas increased the local pHon the surface, thereby promoting precipitation in their vicinity. The resultson initial stages of this type of corrosion were found to have similarities withprevious field studies of Zn exposed to real indoor environments. One way to decrease the corrosion rate of zinc is by adsorbing a corrosioninhibitor to the metal surface in order to protect it. As a model for sucha corrosion inhibitor, octadecanethiol (CH3(CH2)17SH) was seen to provideincreased corrosion protection of both reduced and oxidised Zn substrates byforming an adsorbed surface layer with an ordered structure. / QC 20100719

Carbon nanostructures are a wide field with many applications. The use of carbon nanostructures as support in heterogeneous catalysis is a key development that led together with the use of nanoparticles to a significant cost reduction of catalysts. Catalysts designed in this way are widely applied in fuel cell technologies. For portable devices especially low temperature fuel cells are desirable with low hazards for the user. One technology which fulfills these requirements is the direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC). DFAFC have many promising characteristics, such as high electromotive force and easy fuel handling. However, they still suffer from too low power output and lifetime for commercialization. This thesis focusses on two main aspects: the synthesis of carbon nanostructures by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and their application as catalyst support. The materials are investigated by many different techniques ranging from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to fuel cell tests. Different carbon nanostructures could be synthesized by catalytic CVD on palladium (Pd) nanoparticles. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and helical carbon nanofibers (HCNFs) were grown, selectively, dependent on temperature, using acetylene as carbon precursor. Especially HCNF raised further interest due to their unique structure. A growth model for HCNFs was developed based on an anisotropic extrusion model. The synthesis conditions for HCNFs were optimized until an almost 100 % purity with very high efficiency was obtained. The unique helical but fiber-like structure made the material very interesting as support for heterogeneous catalysis. Several catalysts based on Pd nanoparticle decorated HCNFs were developed. The synthesis methods ranged from standard methods like the polyol method to phase-transfer methods. The catalysts showed very promising results for the electro-oxidation of methanol, ethanol and formic acid. This makes them highly attractive for fuel cell applications. The catalysts were tested in DFAFC. The superiority of HCNF-based catalysts is attributed to the good attachment of nanoparticles to the defect-rich and easy to functionalize surface of HCNFs in combination with adequate film forming properties during electrode preparation. / Nanostrukturerat kol är ett mycket brett fält med ett stort antal tillämpningar. Användning av kolnanostrukturer som support för heterogena katalysmaterial har tillsammans med utvecklingen av nanopartiklar lett till en avsevärd minskning av kostnaden för katalysatorer. Katalysatorer designade på detta sätt används frekvent i bränsleceller. För portabla tillämpningar är utvecklingen av säkra och miljövänliga lågtemperaturceller mycket viktig. En teknologi som uppfyller dessa kriterier är bränsleceller som drivs med myrsyra (DFAFC). Sådana bränsleceller har många önskvärda egenskaper, såsom en hög elektromotorisk kraft och en enkel hantering av bränslet. Trots dessa goda egenskaper har de också en del nackdelar som hindrar en full kommersialisering. De två mest problematiska är en för låg genererad effekt samt en för kort livslängd på katalysatorerna. Denna avhandling fokuserar på två huvudpunkter som adresserar dessa problem; tillverkning och karaktärisering av kolnanostrukturer producerade med CVD, och deras tillämpningar som support för katalysatorer. Materialen karaktäriseras med en rad olika tekniker, allt från transmission-elektronmikroskopi till bränslecellstester. Olika kolnanostrukturer har syntetiserats med katalytisk CVD på palladium (Pd) nanopartiklar. Produktionen av flerväggiga kolnanorör, kolfibrer och heliska kolnanofibrer har tillverkats med acetylen som kolkälla och genom att variera temperaturen kunde innehållet av olika typer av nanostrukturerat kol kontrolleras. Särskilt stort intresse har de heliska kolnanofibrerna rönt på grund av deras unika struktur. Vi beskriver en tillväxtmekanism baserad på en anisotrop diffusionsmodell. Genom att justera produktionsparametrarna visar vi att heliska kolnanofibrer kunde tillverkas med nära 100 %-ig renhet och hög effektivitet. Den unika heliska och fiberlika strukturen är mycket intressant for tillämpningar som support för heterogena katalysatorer. Ett flertal kompositer för katalytiska tillämpningar har utvecklats baserade på heliska kolnanofibrer, dekorerade med heterogena katalysatorer genom en rad olika kemiska/fysikaliska tekniker. De syntetiserade materialen visar mycket goda katalytiska egenskaper för att oxidera metanol, etanol och myrsyra. Därigenom blir de mycket attraktiva för användning i bränsleceller. Vi korrelerar de goda katalytiska egenskaperna med en bra vidhäftning av nanopartiklarna på de heliska kolnanofibrerna defekter, deras goda ledningsförmåga, bra egenskaper för att förbereda elektroder, samt deras stora yta i förhållande till deras volym och vikt.

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