Pt decorated amorphous RuIr alloys as high efficiency electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation

Abstract

This study focuses primarily on improving the utilization and activity of anodic catalysts for methanol electro-oxidation. The Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) anodic catalyst, a carbon supported Pt decorated amorphous RuIr nanoparticles catalyst (Pt@RuIr/C) was prepared by a two-step reduction method. The structure of Pt@RuIr/C nanoparticles was confirmed by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The Pt@RuIr electrocatalysts exhibited good uniformity in distribution. Cyclic Voltammetry experiments showed that under the same quality of noble-metal, the Pt@RuIr/C catalyst had higher activity than the PtRuIr/C catalyst for methanol oxidation. It was also shown that the as-prepared structure of the Pt decorated amorphous RuIr alloys could obviously decrease the usage of noble-metal and enhance its catalytic activity at the same time.