High performance Pt-Nb2O5C electrocatalysts for methanol electrooxidation in acidic media

Nb2O5 incorporated Vulcan carbon XC-72R is prepared by solid-state reaction under intermittent microwave heating (IMH) method and the Pt nanoparticles were dispersed by microwave-assisted polyol process The electrocatalyst samples were characterized by PXRD TEM XPS and the performance for methanol electrooxidation was studied in 0 5 mol L-1 H2SO4 aqueous solutions by cyclic voltammetry chronopotentiometry and chronoamperometry The physicochemical characterization reveals that Nb2O5 and Pt nanoparticles were evenly deposited on Vulcan carbon XC-72R Electrochemical experiments showed that methanol electrooxidation performance is dependent on the amount of Nb2O5 loading and the peak current densities of methanol electrooxidation is significantly higher (similar to 80%) on Pt-Nb2O5(2 2)/C than Pt-Ru(2 1)/C Furthermore Pt-Nb2O5(2 2)/C electrocatalyst exhibited slower current decay with time than Pt-Ru(2 1)/C suggesting good tolerance behavior towards CO-like intermediates The enhanced electrode response is attributed to the synergistic effect between Pt and Nb2O5 This work shows that Pt-Nb2O5/C is a promising anode catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells in terms of its activity and stability towards methanol electrooxidation (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved