Thermally driven interfacial diffusion synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon confined trimetallic PtCoRu composites for the methanol oxidation reaction

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2019-07, Vol.7 (3), p.18143-18149
• Main Authors: Wang, Qingmei, Chen, Siguo, Lan, Huiying, Li, Pan, Ping, Xinyu, Ibraheem, Shumaila, Long, Daojun, Duan, Yijun, Wei, Zidong
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ta04412d

A current challenge to direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is the insufficient electrocatalytic activity and anti-CO poisoning ability of Pt-based alloy catalysts toward the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). In this work, a simple thermally driven interfacial diffusion alloying method is adopted to synthesize Pt 3 CoRu/C@NC trimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) with enhanced MOR activity and anti-CO poisoning ability. The MOR mass activity of the Pt 3 CoRu/C@NC catalyst (0.97 mA μg Pt −1 ) is 4.2 times larger than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.23 mA μg Pt −1 ). Moreover, the Pt 3 CoRu/C@NC catalyst exhibits a much lower CO oxidation onset potential than the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.35 V vs. 0.82 V), which directly indicates the improved anti-CO poisoning ability of the catalyst. This enhancement in MOR activity as well as anti-CO poisoning ability of the Pt 3 CoRu/C@NC catalyst is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of Ru (as a water activator) and Co (as an electronic modifier). Indeed, this work not only provides a satisfactory strategy for improving the activity and anti-CO poisoning ability of MOR electrocatalysts but also gives a significant insight into simple and cost-effective alloying methods for developing homogeneous trimetallic alloy catalysts. A thermally driven interfacial diffusion strategy was employed to fabricate a trimetallic Pt 3 CoRu/C@NC catalyst with excellent enhancement towards the MOR in terms of superior stability and anti-CO poisoning.