Enhancement of catalytic efficiency by partial replacement of ruthenium with platinum nanoparticles for direct methanol fuel cell

Abstract

In this paper, an open-loop reduction system (OLRS) [1] is employed to produce the core-shell Pt (platinum)/Ru (ruthenium) catalysts on the carbon nanotube/carbon fiber supports (CNT/CF) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) application. By adjusting pH value of the ionized reduction environment, Pt4+ can be first converted into Pt2+ to allow partial Ru replacement with Pt by redox transmetalation and produce Pt/Ru core-shell nano structures [2,3]. Methanol oxidation efficiency and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning tolerance of the prepared core-shell nano catalysts can be greatly enhanced by our developed OLRS compared to conventional reflux system [4].