Nanoporous carbon supported platinum-copper nanocomposites as anode catalysts for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell

• NPC supported Pt-Cu nanocomposites are used firstly as anode catalysts for DBHFC.
• The average size of the Pt-Cu nanocrystals is around 2.3 nm.
• The DBHFC with Pt2Cu/NPC anode shows the maximum power density of 89 mW cm−2.

Nanoporous carbon (NPC) supported Pt-Cu nanocomposites (PtxCu/NPC) with different Pt/Cu molar ratios have been successfully synthesized via NaBH4 reduction method and used as anode catalysts for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell (DBHFC). The as-synthesized PtxCu/NPC electrocatalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), rotating disc electrode (RDE) and fuel cell test. It has been found that the PtCu nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed on the surface of the NPC support with average size of about 2.3 nm. Besides, the PtxCu/NPC catalysts show higher activities for borohydride oxidation than that of monometallic Pt/NPC and Vulcan XC-72 carbon supported Pt2Cu (Pt2Cu/XC-72) catalysts. Especially, the DBHFC equipped with Pt2Cu/NPC as anode catalyst shows the maximum power density of 89 mW cm−2 at 25 °C.