Synthesis and Characterization of PtRuMo/C Ternary Nanoelectrocatalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Van Thi Thanh Ho, Long Giang Bach

DMFC, PtRuMo/C, CO poisoning, fuel cells, ternary electrocatalysts.

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are the most promising power source for portable and small devices because of their advantages of high energy density, low pollutant emission, low operating temperature, and ease of handling liquid fuel. However, there are some problems in the commercialization of DMFCs. Most commonly used Pt catalyst shows slow kinetics for methanol electro-oxidation, which is caused by self-poisoning of Pt catalyst surface and the high cost of PtRu novel metal on carbon Herein, the ternary electrocatalysts based on carbon supported PtRuMo/C nanoparticles are prepared by chemical reduction method in this work. The crystallographic properties, morphology and composition of the catalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and the catalytic performance for methanol electro-oxidation was measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The catalytic activity and stability of the PtRuMo/C catalyst are determined and compared with the catalyst of Pt/C nanoparticles prepared by the same method.