Construction of Ternary PtRuPd Alloy Supported on Carbon Nanotubes for Concentrated Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

AbstractDue to the complex reaction process involving six‐electron transfer, high overpotential and slow kinetic rate of methanol oxidation, the development process of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) has been hampered. Herein, a simple one‐step solvent reduction approach was employed to simultaneously reduce metal ions supported on carbon nanotubes and prepared ternary metal alloy nanoparticles supported on carbon nanotubes electrocatalyst (PtRuPd@CNT). Compared with PtRu@CNT binary metal catalyst, the as‐prepared PtRuPd@CNT ternary metal catalyst displayed more outstanding methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) catalytic performance and good CO anti‐poisoning ability. In the case of using 8 M methanol, the MOR performance of PtRuPd@CNT was 1.8 times better than the PtRu@CNT electrocatalyst. The addition of the Pd atom regulates the surface electronic structure of PtRu alloy, and the strong electronic interaction enhances the MOR activity of the PtRu@CNT catalyst. Furthermore, the addition of the Pd atom in the PtRuPd@CNT electrocatalyst also diminishes adsorption of CO intermediate species on the Pt surface, boosting the CO anti‐poisoning ability of the catalyst and improving the stability. Therefore, the PtRuPd@CNT electrocatalyst incorporating the Pd atoms could actualize the practical application prospect as an efficient concentrated DMFC anode catalyst.