CO-Tolerant PtMo/C Fuel Cell Catalyst for H2 Oxidation

CO-tolerant PtMo/C alloy electrocatalyst was prepared by a colloidal method, and its electrocatalytic activity toward CO oxidation was investigated. Electrochemical study revealed that the alloy catalyst significantly enhanced catalytic activity toward the electro-oxidation of CO compared to Pt/C counterpart. Cyclic voltammetry suggested that Mo plays an important role in promoting CO electro-oxidation by facilitating the formation of active oxygen species. The effect of Mo on the electronic structure of Pt was investigated using X-ray absorption spectroscopy to elucidate the synergetic effect of alloying. Our in-depth spectroscopic analysis revealed that CO is less strongly adsorbed on PtMo/C catalyst than on Pt/C catalyst due to the modulation of the electronic structure of Pt d-band. Our investigation shows that the enhanced CO electro-oxidation in PtMo alloy electrocatalyst is originated from two factors; one comes from the facile formation of active oxygen species, and the other from the weak interaction between Pt and CO.