A novel Pt/Cr/Ru/C cathode catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) with simultaneous methanol tolerance and oxygen promotion

New carbon supported electrocatalysts Pt/Cr/Ru with distinct compositions and preparation methods were studied with the help of different electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques. The purposes of obtaining these catalysts lie on their possibilities towards methanol/oxygen fuel cells. In this sense, the oxygen reduction reaction and methanol oxidation reaction were analyzed using stationary and fluid dynamic methodologies. Pt7.8/Ru1.3/Cr0.5 and Pt8.0/Ru2.0/Cr0.1 were the most interesting prepared substrates, on which the first one shows the best catalytic properties towards methanol oxidation and the second the finest performance towards oxygen reduction reaction. Reaction orders with respect to oxygen for the oxygen reduction reaction were obtained being equal to ½ at potentials lower than 0.80 V for both catalysts. Polarization curves run for this reaction depicted two Tafel slopes, i.e. 0.09 V dec−1 above 0.8 V and 0.20 V dec−1 below 0.8 V for both catalysts. An analysis of the most likely mechanism for the oxygen reduction was proposed on the base of those reaction orders and Tafel slopes.