Synthesis of highly efficient Cu-PtRu ternary metal catalyst for methanol oxidation

Abstract

Development of remarkably catalytic activity and CO resistance catalyst has become a focus for methanol oxidation. In this study, the irregular polyhedral of Cu was synthesized by simple electrochemical deposition method. Then Pt-Ru alloy nanoclusters were uniformly deposition on Cu polyhedra to prepare Cu-PtRu ternary alloy materials. The morphology and structure of the ternary alloy were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electrochemical results showed that Cu-PtRu exhibited favorable catalytic capacity and high CO resistance for methanol oxidation. In various proportion of Pt-Ru, Cu-Pt5.2Ru1 showed the highest electrocatalytic activity (638.2 mA mgPt−1) for methanol oxidation, which was 2.2 and 2.84 folds relative to commercial Pt/C (Pt wt.20%) and PtRu/C (Pt wt.30%), respectively. Therefore, Cu-Pt5.2Ru1 might be used as a novel structure electro-catalyst for methanol oxidation.