Electrooxidation of Methanol on Carbon Supported Pt- Ru Nanocatalysts Prepared by Ethanol Reduction Method

Carbon Supported PtRu nanocatalysts have been prepared by simple impregnation reduction method in which Pt and Ru precursors are reduced by ethanol under reflux conditions for different reaction times. The prepared nanocatalysts were characterized by means of XRD, EDAX, ICP-AAS, FESEM and TEM. XRD analyses showed that all nanocatalysts exhibited f.c.c crystal structure, the structure characteristic for pure Pt, except for that reduced at prolonged reaction time of 4h which showed the presence of characteristic peak for Ru metal. The lattice constant calculations indicate that all catalysts are present in unalloyed phase and the average particle size as determined by TEM was in the range of 3.7 nm. The electrocatalytic activities and stability for the prepared nanocatalysts methanol electro-oxidation reaction (MOR) were studied by cyclic voltammetry. The catalysts prepared at 2h reduction time showed higher electrocatalytic activity in terms of mass specific activity and good stability over potential sweep for 100 cycles for methanol electro-oxidation. The results showed that the prepared nanocatalysts are considered as promising electrode catalyst (anode catalyst) for electro-oxidation o