Platinum catalyst on ordered mesoporous carbon with controlled morphology for methanol electrochemical oxidation

Ordered mesoporous carbons CMK-3 with various morphologies are synthesized by using various mesoporous silica SBA-15 as template and then support to prepare Pt/CMK-3 catalyst. The obtained catalysts are compared in terms of the electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation in sulfuric acidic solutions. The structure characterizations and electrochemical analysis reveal that Pt catalysts with the CMK-3 support of large particle size and long channel lengths possess larger electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) and higher activity toward methanol oxidation than those with the other two supports. The better performance of Pt/CMK-3 catalyst may be due to the larger area of electrode/electrolyte interface and larger ECSA value of Pt catalyst, which will provide better structure in favor of the mass transport and the electron transport.