Strategic synthesis of platinum@ionic liquid/carbon cathodic electrocatalyst with high activity and methanol tolerance for the oxygen reduction reaction

• BmimCl ionic liquid can react with K2PtCl4 to generate BmimCl-PtII precipitate.
• Ultrafine BmimCl-PtII precipitate uniformly dispersed on the XC-72 carbon surface.
• Highly dispersed Pt@BmimCl/XC-72 composites were obtained by NaBH4 reduction.
• Pt@BmimCl/XC-72 composites exhibit the improved selectivity and activity for ORR.

Improving the electrocatalytic activity and methanol tolerance of cathodic Pt electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is very important for accelerating commercial viability of direct methanol fuel cells. In this work, the highly dispersed Vulcan XC-72 carbon supported 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) ionic liquid modified Pt nanoparticles (Pt@BmimCl/XC-72) composites are synthesized successfully by simple NaBH4 reduction method in the presence of BmimCl ionic liquid. In the method, the interaction between BmimCl ionic liquid and K2PtCl4 results in the generation of ultrafine BmimCl-PtII complex precipitate, which is responsible for the well dispersion and small particle size of final Pt@BmimCl/XC-72 composites. During the synthesis, the Pt nanoparticles are modified by BmimCl simultaneously due to the strong N-heterocycle-Pt interaction. The as-prepared Pt@BmimCl/XC-72 composites exhibit significantly improved activity and selectivity for the ORR in the presence of methanol in acidic media compared to Pt/XC-72 composites prepared by general NaBH4 reduction method.

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