Quantification of electron transfer on carbon nanotubes: Effect of edge defects on electro-oxidation of glycerol catalyzed by platinum

It is still an ongoing challenge to quantitatively determine the number of transferred electrons from carbon supports to metallic catalysts, which is highly related to their catalytic performance. In this work, a facile method combining electrochemical and spectroscopic technologies was proposed to evaluate the electron transfer (ET) reaction rate on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with defects. Using 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinonedimethane (TCNQ) as an electron-accepting molecule, the transferred electrons from CNTs were quantitatively determined through the Beer-Lambert law and coulometric analysis. It was revealed that the edge defects on CNTs are beneficial for the ET reaction rate, due to the lower local work function. Hence, the defective CNTs supported Pt nanoparticles (Pt/ d -CNTs) performed the higher activity in the electrooxidation of glycerol, suggesting the influence of the ET ability of d -CNTs on the electronic metal-support interaction. This scenario is supported by density function theory calculation and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Our results pave a new way to the facile evaluation of electronic metal–carbon interaction.