The electrocatalytic oxidation of alcohol fuels is mechanistically more complex than the oxidation of hydrogen. Consequently, more active electrocatalysts are required to obtain high cell potentials, or correspondingly low anodic overpotentials. The activity of an electrocatalyst is the product of its intrinsic activity and the number of sites. We are investigating ways to increase the number of sites through the synthesis of Pt nanoparticle electrocatalysts. We will report on a room temperature polyol synthesis we are developing that results in 2-4 nm Pt particles. These particles show comparable activity to commercially available electrocatalysts in the electro-oxidation of several alcohols.

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