Ultrafine Pt Nanoclusters for the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Reactions

Controlling the size of Pt nanomaterials can be an effective route to improve their catalytic activity on a mass basis for the reactions of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). In this work we demonstrated the synthesis of ultrafine platinum nanoclusters based on the replacement reaction between Ag nanoparticles and Pt(IV) precursors. All the reactions were carried out in the presence of commercial carbon powders. The Pt/C thus formed could be directly used for catalyzing the DMFC reactions. By comparing with the commercial Pt catalysts from E-Tek, the Pt nanoclusters exhibit higher catalytic activity toward the methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction, the two key reactions in DMFC, due to their relative smaller sizes.