Carbon‐free nano coral structured platinum electrocatalyst for enhanced methanol oxidation reaction activity with superior poison tolerance
Carbonaceous poisoning and poor catalytic activity of catalysts are two crucial challenges to overcome for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) applications. In this work, superior poison‐tolerant, carbon‐free nanocoral structured platinum (ncs‐Pt) catalysts are successfully synthesized using a micelle‐directed method. The morphological and pore size of ncs‐Pt are tailored by varying the compositional ratio of Pt in the precursor solutions and by changing the molecular ratios of different surfactant blocks. The physical properties of the ncs‐Pt catalyst are observed through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) whereas the electrochemical characteristics are analyzed through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry. The developed ncs‐Pt (5 mM) catalyst possesses high density of porous structures, high index facets, lower d‐band center, and highly negative onset potential (‐0.59V). Therefore, the developed ncs‐Pt catalyst exhibits enhanced mass activity 6.56 mA/µg, and superior poison tolerance 5.62 for the methanol oxidation reaction.