Carbon supported PtPdCr ternary alloy nanoparticles with enhanced electrocatalytic activity and durability for methanol oxidation reaction

Abstract

In this work, the trimetallic PtPdCr nanoparticles with low platinum loading (~5 wt%) supported on Vulcan carbon (PtPdCr/C) were synthesized through a facile two-step co-reduction method and showed superior methanol oxidation activity. The particle size distribution, morphology and elemental composition of the PtPdCr/C were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The electrochemical performance for methanol oxidation of the PtPdCr/C was found to be higher with the mass activity of 969 mA·mg−1Pt compared to Pt/C (581 mA·mg−1Pt) and PtRu/C (725 mA·mg−1Pt). Moreover, the stability studies confirmed the enhanced durability of PtPdCr/C over Pt/C and PtRu/C catalysts after the accelerated durability test (ADT) and chronoamperometry (CA) analysis. The increased methanol oxidation activity and durability of the trimetallic PtPdCr/C in acid medium can be attributed to the change in binding energy of Pt and the induced synergistic effect from Pd and Cr atoms to Pt, which demonstrated a promising strategy for the preparation and utilization of ternary alloy catalysts towards methanol electrooxidation.