Tin oxide nanoparticle-modified commercial PtRu catalyst for methanol oxidation

The electrocatalytic performance of commercial PtRu/C is significantly enhanced by directly mixing a few SnO 2 nanoparticles. The composite catalysts show enhanced CO oxidation, higher activity and better stability than commercial PtRu/C. Among the different ratios of SnO 2 nanoparticles (10–40%), the SnO 2 –PtRu/C (20%) composite catalyst shows the best catalytic activity for methanol oxidation. The effect of temperature on methanol oxidation was also investigated and the apparent activation energy ( E a ) value of catalyst was obtained. The results here suggest a simple route to enhance the catalytic efficiency for commercial PtRu/C catalyst.