A homemade Pt-Ru/C catalyst (named THYT-2) was characterized and used as CO-tolerant electrocatalyst for the proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), While THYT-2 showed comparable electrocatalytic activity with that of the commercial Pt-Ru/C catalyst (Johnson Matthey Corporation ) by the single-cell performance with CO/ H_2(Φ_(CO)- 1*10~(-4)) or methanol as the fuel, higher resistance toward CO- poisoning was demonstrated when the CO-concentration in the hydrogen fuel was reduced to 1*10 ~(-5). The electrochemical oxidation of CO on THYT-2 and the Johnson Matthey Pt-Ru/C catalysts was also indistinguishable by the results of CO-stripping experiment. XRD and XPS measurements show that 60% of the platinum in both catalysts existed in the metallic state of Pt(O) and the other 40% in oxidized Pt(II) and Pt(IV) states. High-resolution TEM detection demonstrates uniformly dispersed Pt-Ru crystals with sizes of 2-3 ran of both catalysts, but selected area EDX analysis reveals non-uniform distribution of ruthenium in the Pt-Ru nano-crystals, which suggest that further improvement of the electrocatalyst can be made with deliberate control of the distribution and interaction of the two metal components.

Key words: FUEL CELLS, PLATINUM, RUTHENIUM, CARBON, METHANOL, XPS, CO