| Low activity of the methanol electro-oxidation catalysts and poisoning of the catalysts by intermediate organic compounds produce during the reaction is one of the biggest challenges facing the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology. In this work, several catalysts were prepared for methanol electro-oxidation. In the first part, performance of PtRu catalysts supported on mesoporous carbon nitrides (MCN) was studied and compared with the performance of PtRu supported on Vulcan XC-72 and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The MCN was synthesized using SBA-15 as a template with different aging temperatures of 100, 130 and 150 °C. The Pt-Ru/MCN-150 catalyst showed the highest activity, about 30% more than that of the commercial Pt-Ru/C (E-TEK).;In the second part, a novel approach was used to prepare Pt-Ru/Fe 2O3-MC, Pt-Ru/CoO-MC and Pt-Ru/NiO-MC catalysts by synthesizing high surface area Fe2O3-MC, CoO-MC and NiO-MC and then followed by impregnation with PtRu. The Pt-Ru/NiO-MC catalyst showed the highest activity, about 18% greater than the commercial Pt-Ru/C (E-TEK).;In the third part, Pt/CeO2-MC, Pt/PrO2-MC, Pt/NdO 2-MC, and Pt/SmO2-MC catalysts were prepared by synthesizing high-surface area CeO2-MC, PrO2-MC, NdO2-MC, and SmO2-MC, followed by impregnation with Pt. The Pt/CeO 2-MC catalyst showed the highest activity, about 3.5% more than that of the commercial Pt-Ru/C (E-TEK) catalyst.;All the prepared catalysts showed reasonable stability. The metal nano-oxides & catalysts were characterized using FESEM, BET surface area, FT-IR, UV-Vis, EDS and XRD. Finally, from the cyclic voltammetric results, Pt-Ru/MCN150, Pt-Ru/MCN130, Pt-Ru/MCN100, Pt-Ru/F-MWCNTs, Pt-Ru/Vulcan XC-72, and Pt-Ru/C (E-TEK) were selected and used to fabricate membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). The MEAs were tested in a practical DMFC. The MEA in which Pt-Ru/MCN150 was used as the anode catalyst showed the highest power density of 56.3 mW/cm 2 at 80 °C. |
