Enhancing methanol oxidation reaction with platinum–ruthenium embedded MXene: Synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical properties

Abstract

Methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is the main reaction that takes place in an anodic electrode of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), whichis a promising electrochemical energy conversion technology. This study presents a novel approach for enhancing the electrocatalytic activity of MOR performance using composite of MXene (Ti3C2Tx) with Pt and Ru bimetal. The aimed of this study is to investigates the optimum electrocatalyst loading for PtRu/Ti3C2Tx to improve and stand out the potential of electrocatalysts in the MOR catalytic activity. The study also provides detailed physical characterizations and electrochemical measurements. The results show that the electrocatalyst loading of 0.40 mgcm−2 has the highest ECSA value and better reaction activity compared to other loadings. The electrocatalytic activity, CO tolerance, and stability of the electrocatalyst also show the better result for this loading. The comparative study with previous research shows that the PtRu/Ti3C2Tx electrocatalyst exhibits the highest catalytic activity, which is 5.13 times better than that of the previous study on the Pt/C electrocatalyst. Thus, the novel combination of MXene structure and PtRu indicates a promising electrocatalyst for MOR.