Efficient electro-oxidation of methanol using PtCo nanocatalysts supported reduced graphene oxide matrix as anode for DMFC

Platinum – cobalt (PtCo) alloy based highly efficient nano electro-catalysts on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) matrix have been synthesized for the electro-oxidation of methanol, by chemical reduction method. Different molar ratio of Pt (IV) and Co (II) ions along with graphene oxide (GO) were reduced using ethylene glycol to obtain PtCo nanoparticles onto rGO sheets (Pt/rGO, PtCo (1:1)/rGO, PtCo (1:5)/rGO, PtCo (1:9)/rGO and PtCo (1:11)/rGO) with 20 wt. % metal and 80 wt. % rGO. The average particle size of PtCo nanoparticles onto rGO support was observed to be 2–5 nm using XRD and TEM analysis. The PtCo (1:9)/rGO nanocomposite catalyst exhibited ∼23 times higher anodic current density compare to commercially available Pt/C catalyst (1.68 mA/cm2) for methanol oxidation reaction. The peak power density of 118.4 mW/cm2 was obtained for PtCo (1:9)/rGO catalyst in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) at 100 °C, 1 bar, and 2 M methanol as anode feed, which is ∼3 times higher than that of Pt/C catalyst. The results indicate the potential application of synthesized nanocomposite catalyst in commercial DMFCs.