Recently, the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has been widely studied, due to their advantages of fuel storage, a high energy density, ease of handling and low operating temperatures. However, the low catalytic activity for methanol electro-oxidation at the anode is a serious technical obstacle.
Our main aims were to investigate these promising candidates in terms of their improved compositions and structures for use as DMFC anode electrocatalysts.
In our experiments, the Pure Pt, PtRu and PtRuM (M=Ni, Mo, Sn, W) electrocatalysts were synthesized using a NaBH₄reduction method.
The alloy characterization of the electrocatalysts were determined by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM).
The electrochemical properties of the electrocatalysts were analyzed via methanol electro-oxidation and Cyclic Voltammetry.
Methanol oxidation of the PtRuNi electrocatalyst was much higher then that of PtRu electrocatalyst. The other catalysts electrocatalysts showed low Methanol oxidations, but higher specific activities than that of the PtRu electrocatalyst.
Therefore, the addition of a third metal to binary PtRu electrocatalyst imparted good catalytic activity to the anode surface.