Functional separation of oxidation–reduction reactions and electron transport in PtRu/ND and conductive additive hybrid electrocatalysts during methanol oxidation

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Functional separation of reactions and electron transport in PtRu/ND + AB (or CNT). • A conductive network was formed after the addition of AB or CNT. • PtRu/ND + AB (or CNT) exhibited enhanced activity and stability than PtRu/ND. - Abstract: Undoped nanodiamond (ND) supported PtRu (PtRu/ND) electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation reactions (MOR) in direct methanol fuel cells was prepared by a microwave-assisted polyol reduction method. Sp³-bonded ND possesses high electrochemical stability but low conductivity, while sp²-bonded carbon nanomaterials with high conductivity are prone to oxidation. Therefore, the functions of the supporting material were separated in this study. ND (sp³), as a support, and AB or CNTs (sp²), as a conductive additive, were combined to form the hybrid electrocatalysts PtRu/ND + AB and PtRu/ND + CNT for MOR. The morphology of the electrocatalysts was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical measurements were performed using an electrochemical workstation. The results indicated that the electrocatalytic activity of PtRu/ND for MOR was improved with the addition of AB or CNTs as a conductive additive. Moreover, adding CNTs to PtRu/ND as a conductive additive showed better electrocatalytic activities than adding AB, which can be ascribed to the better electron-transfer ability of CNTs.