Well-Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Thin Film with Perpendicular Channels:  Application to Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

Ordered mesoporous thin film carbon (TFC) material, of short channels vertical to the film, was synthesized by the replication of mesoporous silica SBA-15(⊥) template and was deposited with PtRu nanocatalyst as an anodic material in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The anode nanocatalyst PtRu was characterized by XRD, Raman, XPS, nitrogen adsorption, and CO_ad stripping. Electrocatalytic activity, characterized by anodic current, was compared with PtRu supported on various carbon supports, including TFC, CMK-3, and XC-72. The much enhanced methanol electrochemical oxidation activity in PtRu/TFC was ascribed to increased nanocatalysts' utilization efficiency with the short nanochannels of TFC.