The role of RuO2 in the electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol for direct methanol fuel cell

Pt/CNTs, PtRu/CNTs, Pt/RuO2/CNTs and RuO2/Pt/CNTs were prepared to understand the role of RuO2 in anodic catalyst of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The results show that the presence of Ru, no matter in alloy or in oxide, can improve the CO electrooxidation ability. RuO2 in Pt–Ru binary catalyst, which situates between CNTs and Pt particles, can exert its CO electrooxidation ability best. Another role of RuO2 in Pt–Ru binary catalyst is to promote Pt nanoparticles to disperse uniformly on CNTs to obtain larger EAS, resulting in higher activity of methanol electrocatalytic oxidation.