Simple preparation of carbonized bacterial cellulose-Pt composite as a high performance electrocatalyst for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC)

Immobilization of ultrafine-sized Pt nanoparticles on carbonized bacterial cellulose (CBC) prepared from renewable biomaterial is described. The material was investigated as an anode catalytic substrate for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC). Specific surface analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results demonstrated that CBC has both suitable structural and chemical properties when it acted as a substrate material. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements revealed that ultrafine-sized Pt nanoparticles with narrow size distribution were successfully fabricated onto CBC. Compared with Pt/Vulcan, the Pt/CBC catalyst exhibited superior electrocatalytic activity with an improved tolerance to poisoning species in methanol electro-oxidation process.