Novel Pt-Tm/Carbon nanocomposite for the catalyst of direct methanol fuel cell

Pt-Tm/carbon nanocomposite has been prepared, using a heterobimetallic organometallic complex precursor {(DMF)(10)Tm-2[Pt(CN)(4)](3)}(omega) as a source of metals which was obtained in the reaction of TmCl3 with K2Pt(CN)(4) in DMF at room temperature. For the electrocatalytic properties of the Pt-Tm catalyst composed with Ketjen Black, the incipient wetness and impregnation method were used. The XRD analysis of this noncomposited half cell materials shows nano size Pt crystalline with no other crystalline phases. Meanwhile, the presence of Tm within cell materials was confirmed by both EDX, and ICP analysis. ICP analysis indicates that the residual carbon from precursor exists as amorphous phase at a given thermal treatment condition. Average Pt particle is slightly bigger than standard Pt catalyst. Even though the particle size of active catalyst is rather similar, the cyclic voltammetry for the oxidation reduction reaction (ORR) shows that the coreduced electrocatalyst, Pt-Tm/carbon rianocomposite has lower catalytic activity compared with the typical Pt/carbon catalyst prepared from H2PtCl6/C. Along with the oxidation reduction reaction (ORR) results, the catalytic activity of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) was also characterized.