Facile Synthesis of Three-Dimensional PtPdNi Fused Nanoarchitecture as Highly Active and Durable Electrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation

Electrocatalysts for methanol electrooxidation with high activity and durability are greatly desired for boosting commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). However, the current methanol electrooxidation catalysts are far from the anticipation, and their application has been limited by the low catalytic activity and fast performance degradation. In this work, facile and rapid synthesis of ternary PtPdNi alloy nanoarchitecture with high performance for methanol electrooxidation is reported. The role of each component has been investigated in detail. The introduction of Pd makes contribution to the improvement of the catalytic activity. Furthermore, Ni plays important roles in improving both catalytic activity and durability. The PtPdNi catalyst shows higher activity than any of its components (Pt, PtPd, and PtNi) and even 3.58 times higher than commercial Pt black (PB) in Pt-based mass activity. Moreover, the PtPdNi nanoarchitecture exhibits extremely high durability compared to PB; 0.6 A/mg(Pt) (31% of the initial one) of the catalytic current density is retained even after a 50,000 s endurance test.