Novel Approach to Prepare Electrocatalysts for Methanol Oxidation with Ultra High Activity

A novel approach has been invented to prepare efficient electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation. The approach involves electrochemical reduction of adsorption of metal ions instead of free ions in solution. The results showed that the deposited Pt-Ru particles are very thin nanoplatelets, the prepared electrocatalyst has a large electrochemically active surface area and its Pt mass activity toward methanol oxidation reaction is about 10 times higher than that of the commercial catalyst. The novel approach could provide an effective method for solving the problem of low electrocatalytic activity in direct methanol fuel cell anodes.