Combinatorial Development of Ternary Electrocatalysts for Methanol Oxidation

We report a combinatorial and high throughput catalyst optimization of ternary Pt-Co-Ru alloy electrocatalysts for the oxidation of methanol in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell anodes. A densely sampled ternary Pt alloy catalyst library was prepared and electrochemically tested in parallel for catalytic activity. A composition-activity map was obtained from which suitable catalyst candidates with improved activity were identified. Then, high throughput methods for evaluating corrosion stability of the alloy catalysts were developed based on structural and compositional criteria. Finally, combining stability-composition and activity-composition maps resulted in consensus maps which pointed to a new optimized ternary alloy electrocatalyst with overall composition Pt₁₈Co₆₂Ru₂₀.