Electrodeposition preparation of Nafion-Pt-HxMoO3 and its activity toward methanol oxidation

A composite catalyst Nafion-Pt-HxMoO3 was prepared on a glassy carbon by cyclic voltammetry methods in sulfuric acid solution containing Na2MoO4, H2PtCl6 and Naton, and its activity for the methanol oxidation was studied with Pt-HxMoO3 as comparison. It is found that the electrocatalytic activity and the stability of Pt-HxMoO3 are improved by the Nation. The activity of Pt-HxMoO3 reaches its maximum when the content of Nation in the preparation solution is 0.012%（mass fraction）. In this case the oxidation peak current of methanol on Nation-Pt-HxMoO3 is 1.76 times larger than that on Pt-HxMoO3 and keeps unchanged when the potential is set at 0.3 V （vs Hg-Hg2SO4） for 5 000 s in 1 mol/LCH3OH＋0.5 mol/L U2SO4 solution. The results from energy dispersive spectroscopy show that the content of Nation in the composite is 0.57%. The results from scanning electron spectroscopy show that the composite of Nafion-Pt-HxMoO has a gain size of about 90 nm and distributes more uniformly than Pt-HxMoO3.