Method for manufacture of noble metal alloy catalysts and catalysts prepared therewith

Abstract

The invention provides a method for manufacturing supported noble metal based alloy catalysts with a high degree of alloying and a small crystallite size. The method involves using polyol solvents as reaction medium and comprises a two-step reduction process in the presence of a support material. In the first step, the first metal (transition metal; e.g. Co, Cr, Ru) is activated by increasing the reaction temperature to 80 to 160° C. In the second step, the second metal (noble metal; e.g. Pt, Pd, Au) is added and the slurry is heated to the boiling point of the polyol solvent in a range of 160 to 300 ° C. The catalysts manufactured according to the method are used as electrocatalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), direct-methanol fuel cells (DMFC) or as gas phase catalysts for CO oxidation or exhaust gas purification.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.