Ionic Liquid-Assisted Synthesis of Au-Pt Bimetallic Particles for Enhanced Methanol Electrooxidation

A facile ionic liquid-assisted route is proposed for the successful synthesis of Au-Pt bimetallic particles with a core shell structure at room temperature. The synthesized bimetallic particles exhibit flowerlike morphologies with a tunable composition (Au and Pt) by controlling the molar ratios between metal precursors. Specifically, the synthesized Au-Pt particles exhibit efficient electrocatalytic activities toward methanol oxidation in alkaline media, which indicates their useful application in direct methanol fuel cells.