Abstract:

In this work, a microfluidic approach was reported for the synthesis of carbon-supported PtRu nanoparticles(PtRu/C) for high efficient methanol electro-oxidation. By varying the flow rate of reactants in the simple custom-made microfluidic reactor, a series of PtRu/C catalysts was obtained with size ranging from 1.4 to 2.0 nm. Electrochemical measurements show that the superior activity of catalyst obtained with flow rate of 90 μL/min for methanol electro-oxidation could be attributed to its large electrochemically active surface area(ECSA) and the high content of metallic Pt(0). This method for the preparation of catalyst holds great promise for potential applications in important energy conversion and environmental fields.

Key words: microfluidic, methanol, catalyst