Iranian Journal of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell 1(2018) 35-47 Iranian Journal of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell IJHFC Journal homepage://ijhfc.irost.ir Platinum nanoparticles/functionalized carbon nanoparticles composites supported on the carbon-ceramic electrode and their electroactivity for ethanol oxidation Biuck Habibi * , Hamideh Emanzadeh Electroanalytical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran Article Information Article History: Received: 10 June 2018 Received in revised form: 01 Sep 2018 Accepted: 23 Sep 2018 Keywords Ethanol oxidation Electrocatalyst Pt nanoparticles Functionalized carbon nanoparti- cles Carbon-ceramic electrode Abstract The electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol was studied for the platinum nanoparticles/ functionalized carbon nanoparticles composites supported at the carbon-ceramic electrode (PtNPs/tosyl-CNPs/CCE) as an electrocatalyst in acidic medium. The PtNPs/tosyl-CNPs/CCE electrocatalyst was synthesized by electrodeposition of PtNPs on/in casted tosyl-CNPs at the CCE. The characterization of the fabricated nanocomposite was done by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. The obtained electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol was studied by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques. The results showed that the PtNPs/tosyl-CNPs/CCE was electrocatalytically more active than PtNPs/ CCE and had high anodic peak current densities, low onset potential, low poisoning and high stability. Hence, the proposed nanocomposite, PtNPs/tosyl-CNPs/CCE, can be extended as an attractive and promising electrocatalyst for the ethanol electrooxidation reaction in fuel cells. * Corresponding Author’s Fax: +98-41 34327541 E-mail address: B.habibi@Azaruniv.ac.ir doi: 10.22104/ijhfc.2018.2920.1175 1. Introduction Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) have great mass energy density. Compared with other fuels, ethanol can be handled, transmitted and stored easily [1-3] and has features and specifications such as being less permeable through polymeric membranes as well as cost-effective and having a higher boiling point