Combinatorial screening of ternary Pt-Ni-Cr catalysts for methanol electro-oxidation

Methanol electro-oxidation activity of ternary Pt-Ni-Cr system was studied by using a combinatorial screening method. A Pt-Ni-Cr thin-film library was prepared by sputtering and quickly characterized by a multichannel multielectrode analyzer. Among the 63 different composition thin-film catalysts, Pt28Ni36Cr36 showed the highest methanol electro-oxidation activity and good stability. This new composition was also studied in its powder form by synthesizing and characterizing Pt28Ni36Cr36/C catalyst. In chronoamperometry testing, the Pt28Ni36Cr36/C catalyst exhibited decay-free behavior during 600 s operation by keeping its current density up to 97.1% of its peak Current density, while the current densities of Pt/C and Pt50RU50/C catalysts decreased to 14.0% and 60.3% of their peak current densities, respectively. At 600 s operation, current density of the Pt28Ni36Cr36/C Catalyst was 23.8 A g(noble) (-1)(metal), while that of those of the Pt/C and Pt50RU50/C catalysts were 2.74 and 18.8 A g(noble metal)(-1), respectively (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.