Characterization of high surface area tungsten carbide synthesized by templated synthesis methods electrocalytic applications
EMSL Project ID
19090
Abstract
Transition metal carbides have long been sought as alternatives to precious metals for catalysis and electrochemical applications since Levy and Boudart (1973) first reported that WC displayed platinum-like behavior in several catalytic reactions. Unlike precious metals, it has been recently reported that transition metal carbides have additional advantages such as sulfur and carbon monoxide tolerance that is highly desired for catalysis and fuel cell applications. Stability of transition metal carbides under electrochemical and catalytic reaction conditions is one of the challenging issues limiting their potential applications. A recent report based on single crystal surface and thin film studies in UHV chamber indicate that a high purity and a single phase WC is stable under electrochemical environment while other species such as W2C are not. Recently, we developed the template synthesis method of WC with high surface area and purity for electrocatalytic applications. Which methods are involves the deposition of tungsten precursor solutions onto porous templates and followed by carbothermal reaction of tungsten oxides to WC during high temperature carburization. The tungsten carbide thus obtained shown high purity (WC with ~ 3 % W2C) and high surface area (~ 60 nm). We can synthesize the WC nanoparticles supported on carbon also.
We are interested in the relationships between the morphology and surface characteristics with synthesis methods and electrocatalytic activity and stabilities. We would like to perform XRD and BET analysis to determine the crystalline purity and surface area. TEM studies will be very useful for the investigation of the morphology change of tungsten carbide materials with different synthesis conditions such as nanoparticles supported on carbon etc. One of the most important points for catalytic applications is the surface cleanness of these materials. For this we will apply the surface analysis techniques (XPS etc.). We believe TGA/MASS give us the information about the detailed reaction mechanisms.
The characterization results will be very helpful for development of templated synthesis method for high surface area tungsten carbide and fundamental understanding of catalytic nature of tungsten carbides. The results generated will allow us to publish several papers in this area.
Project Details
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Start Date
2006-08-24
End Date
2007-08-27
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator