Nanoporous Pt/WC as an Anode for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

We for the first time prepared nanoporous tungsten carbide by polymer/surfactant method, which is made up of WC nanoparticles and carbon and has a pore diameter of ca. 4.5 nm. Platinum supported on these nanoporous tungsten carbide shows higher electrocatalytic (2.5 times) activity than commercial 20%Pt-Ru E-Teck catalyst in the half cell mode and shows equivalent activity to commercial Pt-Ru commercial catalyst in the real fuel cell mode with a much less amount of noble metals.