Rapid synthesis of water-soluble carbon nanotubes-supported PtRu nanoparticles for methanol electrooxidation

A one-pot, rapid microwave-assisted method is proposed to directly synthesize water-soluble surface-aminated carbon nanotubes (CNTs-NH2) from pristine CNTs by covalently grafting ethylenediamine onto the surface of CNTs, requiring no cumbersome chemical oxidation of CNTs. The excellent water-solubility and abundant surface functional groups of the CNTs-NH2 lead to the production of uniformly dispersed PtRu nanoparticles (NPs) with diameter ranging from 1.5 to 4.5 nm. Cyclic voltammetry and amperometric studies indicate that the resulting PtRu NPs/CNTs-NH2 nanohybrids have higher electrochemical surface area, better electrocatalytic performance and higher stability towards methanol oxidation compared to PtRu NPs supported on the pristine CNTs. The high electrocatalytic performance is mainly contributed to the small particle size and high dispersion of PtRu NPs and good proton conductivity of CNTs-NH2. This work may demonstrate a universal approach to fabricate superior metal nanocrystalline on CNTs for broad applications in energy systems and sensing devices. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.