Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium-Assisted Uniform Dispersion of PtRu Nanoparticles on Carbon Nanotubes towards Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Methanol

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are ideal catalyst support because of their high conductivity, chemical stability, and large specific surface area, but their inert surface does not offer efficient groups for the anchoring of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs).  Here, we present a general approach for the preparation of noble metal NPs/CNTs catalysts in a water-ethylene glycol system using carboxymethylcellulose sodium (CMS) as link. The functionalization of CNTs by CMS is simple and can be carried out at room temperature, and the PtRu NPs are uniformly anchored on CNTs with no formation of aggregates. Cyclic voltammetry study indicates that the resulting catalysts (PtRu NPs/CMS-CNTs) showed superb performance for the direct electro-oxidation of methanol, which can be ascribed to the constructing “ideal” triple-phase boundary structure at the interface between PtRu NPs, CMS and CNTs. This work may also demonstrate a gentle approach to fabricate robust catalysts with metal nanocrystaline on CNTs for broad applications in energy conversion devices in the future.