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Abstract: Manganese dioxide was coated on multiwall carbon nanotubes-supported PtRu particles to prepare the MnO2/PtRu/CNT catalyst by a facile oxidation–reduction method. The prepared catalyst showed a high stability for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol. After 2000 potential cycles, 55% activity still remained for MnO2/PtRu/CNT catalyst, while only 30% activity remained for PtRu/CNT, which indicated that the electrochemical stability of MnO2/PtRu/CNTs was improved significantly. MnO2 in MnO2/PtRu/CNTs prevented the dissolution of PtRu particles as well as the corrosion of the CNT supports, resulting in the improvement of the stability and activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Phosphorus-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (P-MCNTs) were synthesized by thermolysis and employed as supports to prepare Pt/P-MCNTs catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Pt/P-MCNTs exhibited much higher electrocatalytic activity and longer-term stability for methanol oxidation than Pt/MCNTs in acidic medium, due to the higher dispersion and utilization rate and the improvement of intrinsic activity for methanol oxidation of Pt nanoparticles, indicating a highly potential application of Pt/P-MCNTs in DMFCs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been investigated on fish-bone carbon nanotubes (F-CNTs) and parallel carbon nanotubes (P-CNTs). The results showed that the F-CNTs exhibited much higher activity than P-CNTs, which originated from the higher fraction of edge carbon atoms. The dependence of ORR peak potential on the fraction of edge carbon atoms was determined quantitatively for the first time. The density functional theory calculations clearly unveiled the mechanism of edge carbon atoms facilitating the ORR performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]