Efficient electrooxidation of methanol by Co-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles loaded on carbon nanotubes in alkaline environment

Abstract

In this work, composites of Co-Pt nanoparticles/carbon nanotubes (Co-Pt NPs/CNTs) were prepared by loading binary nanoparticles Co-Pt nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes. These composites were utilized as highly efficient catalysts for the methanol electrocatalytic oxidation reaction (MOR). The morphology of the materials was analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Spherical Aberration Corrected Scanning (AC-STEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results revealed that the 5.54 nm diameter Co-Pt nanoparticles were evenly distributed on the surface of carbon nanotubes. Chronoamperometry (CA), linear scanning voltammetry (LSV), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques were employed to assess the activity and stability of Co-Pt NPs/CNTs composites. Various Co-Pt NPs/CNTs composites were prepared by adjusting the ratio of Co-Pt. Through analysis of MOR performance, it was found that the Co₃Pt₁ NPs/CNTs composites exhibited superior catalytic activity with a mass activity of 4411 mA·mg⁻¹_Pt, which was 2.45 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalysts. This study introduced a novel approach for the preparation of high-performance Co-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles catalysts.