Methanol Oxidation over TiO2-modified Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes Supported Pt-Mo Electrocatalyst

In order to develop a novel and high-performance catalytic material for direct methanol fuel celIs(DMFC), molybdenum oxide as a co-catalyst with Pt on multi-walled carbon nanotubes which were modified by titanium dio- xide(denoted as CNTs@TiO<,2>) was investigated. The physicochemical characterizations of the catalysts were carried out via X-ray diffraction(XRD), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). Cyclic voltammetry(CV) showed that the CO-tolerance performance increased in the sequence of Pt/CNTs< Pt/CNTs@TiO<,2>. The improved CO-tolerance performance of the Pt-Mo/CNTs@TiO<,2> catalyst can be attributed to the combined beneficial effects of highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles on the CNTs, the existence of oxygen holes in the MoO<,3> layer structure and the oxidation capability of TiO<,2>.