Porous carbon (PC)
is obtained by carbonizing a zinc-coordination
polymer (MOF-5) at 950 °C and PtM (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) nanoparticles
(NPs), which are deposited on PC using the polyol method. Structural
and morphological characterizations of the synthesized materials are
carried out by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy
(HRTEM), and the porosity was determined using a N
2
adsorption/desorption
technique. The results revealed that PtM NPs are alloyed in the
fcc
phase and are well dispersed on the surface of PC. The
electrochemical results show that PtM/PC 950 catalysts have higher
methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) performances than commercial Pt/C
(20%) catalysts. After 3000 s of chronoamperometry (CA) test, the
MOR performances decreased in the order of Pt
1
Cu
1
/PC 950 > Pt
1
Ni
1
/PC 950 > Pt
1
Fe
1
/PC 950 > Pt
1
Zn
1
/PC 950 >
Pt
1
Co
1
/PC 950. The high MOR activities of the
synthesized
catalysts are attributed to the effect of M on methanol dissociative
chemisorption and improved tolerance of Pt against CO poisoning. The
high specific surface area and porosity of the carbon support have
an additional effect in boosting the MOR activities. Screening of
the first row transition metals (
d
5+
n
,
n
= 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) alloyed with
Pt binary catalysts for MOR shows that Pt with
d
8
(Ni) and
d
9
(Cu) transition metals,
in equivalent atomic ratios, are good anode catalysts for alcohol
fuel cells.