Highly poison-resistant Pt nanocrystals on 3D graphene toward efficient methanol oxidation

Highly poison-resistant and uniformly ultrasmall Pt nanocrystals on 3D graphene are synthesized using reductive sugars derived from pectin hydrolysis, and showed a much greater stability and better electrocatalytic activity than the commercial Pt/C toward methanol oxidation. The highly poison-resistant mechanism is mainly attributed to the electrostatic repelling effect between the remanent pectin modified on the Pt surface and the adsorbed poison reactive intermediate species such as carboxy (–COOH)_ad during the methanol oxidation reaction. This work provides great promise for an anode catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells through a green synthetic approach.