Performance of Pt–Ru–Mo Ternary Catalysts for Borohydride Electro-Oxidation in Membraneless Fuel Cell

Abstract

Graphene supported Pt–Ru–Mo trimetallic electrocatalysts are prepared by the thermal decomposition of a polymeric precursor method, and used as the anode electrocatalysts for membraneless borohydride fuel cell (MLBFC). The physical and electrochemical properties of the as-prepared electrocatalysts are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and fuel cell test. XRD results show that the diffraction peaks in Pt–Ru–Mo/G catalysts shift slightly to higher 2θ values compared with that of Pt/G catalyst, suggesting the formation of Pt–Ru–Mo alloying. TEM results show that the morphologies of Pt–Ru–Mo trimetallic catalysts are uniformly spherical with the particle size of about 4.5 nm on the graphene surface. Besides, it has been found that the Pt–Ru–Mo/G (1:1:1) catalysts have much higher catalytic activity for the oxidation of sodium borohydride than Pt/G catalyst. The membraneless borohydride fuel cell with Pt–Ru–Mo/G (1:1:1) anode catalyst and Pt/G cathode catalyst obtains the maximum power density as high as 28.84 mW cm─2 at room temperature.