Electrospun bimetallic nanowires of PtRh and PtRu with compositional variation for methanol electrooxidation

Binary metallic nanowires (NWs) of PtRh and PtRu were synthesized by electrospinning method with compositional variation from 1:3 to 2:1. The electrospun bimetallic NWs were highly alloyed with diameters smaller than 60 nm and lengths up to hundreds of micrometers. The PtRh and PtRu NWs with 1:1 atomic ratio resulted in the higher catalytic mass activity over the methanol electrooxidation than those with the different atomic ratios, and the mass activity of Pt₁Ru₁ NWs was superior to the other NWs and even better than the commercial catalyst of the highly dispersed Pt₁Ru₁ nanoparticles on carbon. Moreover, the bimetallic NW electrocatalysts showed the better stability than the bimetallic nanoparticles. The enhancements of electrocatalytic properties for the Pt₁Rh₁ and Pt₁Ru₁ NWs could be attributed to their one-dimensional features, which can outperform on the electro-oxidations over the fuel cell electrodes.