Preparation of Pt-Ru nanoparticles with a uniform size distribution on a mesoporous carbon and their activity towards methanol electro-oxidation

A Pt-Ru nanoparticle catalyst was prepared using mesoporous carbon, CMK-3, as a support, and the catalytic activity was compared to that on Ketjen carbon black, KB. The DMFC performances of MEA prepared with these catalysts were also measured and compared with each other. The catalysts deposited on CMK-3, Pt-Ru/CMK-3, had a narrow size distribution around 2.5nm and highly distributed on the surface of the support. Pt-Ru/CMK-3 showed a higher mass activity for methanol oxidation based on a cyclic voltammogram, but a lower DMFC performance than that of Pt-Ru/KB. It was considered that the catalyst layer with CMK-3 had a lower electric conductivity and/or unfavorable microstructure to prepare a large number of active reaction sites in the layer.