Bimetallic PtRu Nanoparticles Supported on Functionalized Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes as High Performance Electrocatalyst for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

PtRu nanoparticles (NPs) supported on acid treated multiwall carbon nanotubes (Pt1Ru1/MWCNTs) were prepared by a modified polyol method without adding any other surfactant or protective agent. The structural and compositional properties of the as-obtained samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic performance of the catalyst was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), CO stripping voltammetry and chronoamperometry, indicating a high catalytic activity, excellent CO tolerance and stability for methanol oxidation. Interestingly, a series of accurate controllable experiments have been designed to explore the enhancement mechanism of Pt1Ru1/MWCNTs for methanol oxidation reaction. Most importantly, Pt1Ru1/MWCNTs composites were used as an anode catalyst in the direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) exhibiting outstanding power density (126.1 mW/cm(2)) 1.7 times higher than that of the commercial catalyst of Pt1Ru1/C (74.1 mW/cm(2)) (E-TEK).