Hybrid of molybdenum trioxide and carbon as high performance platinum catalyst support for methanol electrooxidation

Molybdenum trioxide (MoO 3 ) has been considered an advanced auxiliary support for Pt nanoparticle anchorage due to its excellent activity and stability. Nevertheless, its non-conductivity property still impedes its applications in electrocatalytic fields. Thus, the MoO 3 and carbon composite of a nanostructure is synthesized through sintering process and served as an efficient co-support for Pt-based anode catalyst in this paper. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that Pt/MoO 3 -C catalyst shows higher catalytic activity and stability than the as-prepared Pt/C. Significantly, it exhibits 1.95 times higher activity and 2.36 times better durability for methanol oxidation when compared with commercial Pt/C. The remarkably enhanced performance of this novel Pt/MoO 3 -C catalyst for methanol electrooxidation can be ascribed to the abundant Pt nucleation active sites, uniformly dispersed Pt nanoparticles and the strong metal-support interaction between Pt and MoO 3 -C. These outstanding properties suggest Pt/MoO 3 -C a promising catalyst for practical application of fuel cell.