Laboratory Preparation of Multi-walled carbon nanotube-supported Pt-Ru anode catalyst and investigation of its performance in methanol oxidation in fuel cell

Fuel cells are clean, efficient, and noiseless. There is increasing interest in the development of fuel cell systems due to thir profound commercial applications. Particularly, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) can be used as dependable and long-lasting portable power sources to replace batteries, which suffer from low energy capacities and short runtime, in various electronic equipments. DMFCs strongly depend on the use of Pt electrocatalyst for effective oxygen reduction and Pt-Ru electrocatalyst for methanol fuel electrooxidation. The use of bi-or multicomponent anode catalysts for methanol electrooxidations an effective way to solve the catalyst poisoning problems caused by CO and other reaction intermediates under low-temperature reaction conditions. Conventionally, high conductive carbon backs, such as Vulcan XC72 with high surface areas are used as supports for electrocatalysts to ensure large electro-reaction surfaces and good electronic conduction. Formation of electrocatalysts on CNT for membrane fuel cell applications is commonly conducted using reductive deposition methods.