Recent advances in catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells

TLDR

Direct methanol fuel cells have been intensively developed, but their reliance on expensive Pt‑based catalysts limits commercial viability, prompting advances in low‑Pt alloys, core‑shell, and non‑Pt catalysts. This perspective aims to review pathways for enhancing the cost‑effectiveness and efficiency of low‑Pt and non‑Pt catalysts for DMFCs. The review highlights fundamental composition–activity and structure–activity relationships, innovative synthesis methods, promising development directions, and strategies to mitigate degradation of these catalysts.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) have been intensively developed as clean and high-efficiency energy conversion devices. However, their dependence on expensive Pt-based catalysts for both the anode and the cathode make them unsuitable for large-scale commercialisation. The essential solution to addressing this shortfall is the development of low-Pt and non-Pt catalysts. Regarding this issue, considerable advances have been made with low-Pt alloys and core-shell-like catalysts, as well as non-platinum Pd–Me, Ru–Se and heat-treated MeNxCy-based catalysts. This perspective reviews potential pathways for increasing the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of these catalysts. Fundamental understanding of the composition–activity and structure–activity relationships, innovative synthesis, and promising developmental directions are highlighted. Regarding durability, the main degradation mechanism of these catalysts and the corresponding mitigating strategies are presented.