Graphitized mesoporous carbon supported Pt–SnO2 nanoparticles as a catalyst for methanol oxidation

A mesostructured composite catalyst, Pt–SnO2 supported on graphitized mesoporous carbon (GMC), has been prepared and its electrochemical activity for methanol oxidation has been investigated. The materials were characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, EDX spectrum and N2 sorption techniques. Cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and steady-state polarization tests were adopted to characterize the electro-catalytic activities of the materials for methanol oxidation. The results show that, the overall methanol electro-oxidation catalytic activity of the mesostructured composite catalyst, 20 wt.% PtSnO2 (1:1, mass ratio)/GMC, is obviously higher than that of 20 wt.% PtSnO2/C with commercial carbon black as support under the same loading amount of Pt–SnO2 catalysts, and is also much higher than that of commercial catalyst 20 wt.% Pt/C at half Pt using amount.