Carbon-supported platinum-decorated nickel nanoparticles for enhanced methanol oxidation in acid media

Carbon-supported platinum-decorated nickel nanoparticles (denoted as Pt-Ni/C) with intimate contact of Pt and Ni are prepared by a galvanic displacement reaction between Ni/C nanoparticles and PtCl (6) (2-) in aqueous solution. It demonstrates a higher mass activity and stability to methanol oxidation reaction than conventional Pt/C and PtRu/C catalysts by a rotating disk electrode in acid solution, which could be attributed to the modified electronic structure of the Pt-Ni/C nanoparticles.