Development of stable PtRu catalyst coated with manganese dioxide for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

Manganese dioxide was coated on multiwall carbon nanotubes-supported PtRu particles to prepare the MnO2/PtRu/CNT catalyst by a facile oxidation–reduction method. The prepared catalyst showed a high stability for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol. After 2000 potential cycles, 55% activity still remained for MnO2/PtRu/CNT catalyst, while only 30% activity remained for PtRu/CNT, which indicated that the electrochemical stability of MnO2/PtRu/CNTs was improved significantly. MnO2 in MnO2/PtRu/CNTs prevented the dissolution of PtRu particles as well as the corrosion of the CNT supports, resulting in the improvement of the stability and activity.