Carbon monoxide oxidation on Pt-Ru electrocatalysts supported on high surface area carbon

This work describes the preparation and characterization of Pt-Ru alloys dispersed on high surface area carbon, which were evaluated for CO oxidation on thin porous coating rotating disk electrodes and for hydrogen oxidation on polymer electrolyte fuel cells fed with hydrogen containing 100 ppm CO. A thermal treatment (H-2, 300 degreesC) applied to the catalysts improves the tolerance to small quantities of CO and, in some cases, reduces the potential necessary to promote the CO oxidation during a linear potential scan. Under operational conditions in a fuel cell in the presence of CO it was observed that the best results were obtained when the Pt-Ru/C alloy was prepared by simultaneous reduction of the ions Pt(IV) and Ru (III), as opposed to a sequential reduction.