Highly efficient methanol oxidation on durable PtxIr/MWCNT catalysts for direct methanol fuel cell applications

Development of highly active and durable Pt based anode materials with higher utilization of Pt is quite crucial towards the commercial viability of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Herein, multi-walled carbon nanotube supported PtxIr nanostructures (PtxIr/MWCNT) are successfully prepared by one-pot wet chemical reduction without any surfactants. The role of Ir content and its bi-functional mechanism on kinetics of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) was studied. The MOR on PtxIr/MWCNT follows Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism by successive oxidative removal of CO. The co-existence of IrO2 plays a vital role as catalytic promotor. Amongst, Pt2Ir/MWCNT shows enhanced electrocatalytic activity (mass activity (MA), 933.3 mA/mg(pt)) and durability (13.8% loss of MA after 5000 potential cycles) thru the well-balanced electronic and bi-functional effects. This study implies that the optimized composition of Pt2Ir/MWCNT exhibits efficient methanol oxidation and could be a potential catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.