PtRhCu ternary alloy nanodendrites with enhanced catalytic activity and durability toward methanol electro-oxidation

Despite the great progress has been made in the research of Pt-based catalysts toward methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), it is still remaining a great challenge for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) to simultaneously satisfy both excellent activity and good durability. Herein, we report a facile one-pot approach for the successful fabrication of PtRhCu ternary alloy nanodendrites. For the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), the electro-catalytic performances of the as-prepared nanocrystals can be optimized by simply varying the amount of Rh precursor. The mass activity and specific activity of the as-obtained Pt47Rh8Cu45 nanodendrites are 2.9 and 5.8 times as high as that of commercial Pt/C catalyst, respectively. Besides, after the accelerated durability test (ADT) for 1500 cycles, the remaining specific activity of Pt(47)Rh(8)Cu(45 )nanodendrites is 7.8 folds enhancement compared to commercial Pt/C, indicating the excellent stability of the PtRhCu catalyst. We believe that the improved electrochemical activity and stability could be resulted from the highly dendritic nanostructure and the synergetic effect of the three metallic elements in the alloy.