Hydrothermal synthesis of PtRu nanoparticles supported on graphene sheets for methanol oxidation in direct methanol fuel cell

摘要

Platinum-ruthenium (PtRu) nanoparticles are dispersed on graphene nanosheets and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via a hydrothermal method. Transmission electron microsocopy (TEM) observation shows the uniformly dispersed nanoparticles and the average nanopartide size has been calculated. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the Pt-Ru/graphene catalyst exhibits about two times higher mass activity and better tolerance to poisoning species in methanol electro-oxidation than the Pt-Ru/ MWCNTs catalyst. This study indicates that the PtRu anodic catalyst synthesized by hydrothermal method can be applied for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC).