Synthesis of a functionalized carbon supported platinum–iridium nanoparticle catalyst by the rapid chemical reduction method for the anodic reaction of direct methanol fuel cells

Abstract

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) stand out among the most common technologies in energy storage and are environmentally friendly energy converters that convert chemical energy into electrical energy. It is known that the use of nanoparticles (NPs) as catalysts in the anodic reactions of DMFCs provides a significant increase in efficiency. Pt is the most preferred metal in fuel cell applications; however, its high cost and CO poisoning require a reduction in the use of Pt in the catalyst. At this point, carbon (C) supported PtIr bimetallic nanoparticles were rapidly obtained using the chemical reduction method. The obtained NPs were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). As a result of characterization, it was observed that the NPs showed a nearly homogeneous distribution on the carbon support. Alcohol oxidation measurements of the prepared NPs were investigated using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Scan Rate (SR), and Chronoamperimetry (CA) measurements. As a result of electrochemical measurements, the anodic peak current was calculated to be 61.98 mA cm⁻². Besides, the PtIr@C catalyst has higher CO tolerance and a higher electrochemical surface area (ECSA) than Pt@C. The results showed that the PtIr@C nanoparticles provided increased methanol oxidation compared to Pt@C nanoparticles. The resulting catalyst shows high potential for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications.