Synthesis and structure-activity relationship exploration of carbon-supported PtRuNi nanocomposite as a CO-tolerant electrocatalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

A carbon-supported PtRuNi nanocomposite is synthesized via a microwave-irradiated polyol plus annealing synthesis strategy. The catalyst is characterized by transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The data are discussed with respect to those for the carbon-supported PtRu nanocomposite prepared following the same way. The characterizations show that the inclusion of Ni in the PtRu system has only a small effect on the particle size, the structure, and the compositional homogeneity. CO-stripping voltammetry and measurements on the single proton exchange membrane fuel cells show that the PtRuNi/C catalyst has an improved activity for COads electro-oxidation. An accelerated durability test on the catalyst exhibits insignificant loss of activity in acidic media. On the basis of the exploration of the structure-activity relationship, a mechanism for the improved performance of the catalyst is proposed. It is suggested that the improved CO-tolerant performance of the PtRuNi/C nanocomposite should be related to the hydrogen spillover on the catalyst surface, the enhanced oxidation of COads by nickel hydroxides, and the high proton and electronic conductivity of the hydroxides. The nickel hydroxide passivated surface and/or anchoring of metallic nickel in the platinum lattice may contribute to the durability of the catalyst in acid solution.