RESEARCH ARTICLE Multifunctional catalysts toward methanol oxidation in direct methanol fuel cell Zahra Yavari • Meissam Noroozifar • Mozhgan Khorasani-Motlagh Received: 24 October 2014 / Accepted: 23 February 2015 / Published online: 6 March 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract In the current study, a nanoscale perovskite SrFeO 3 (SrFNPs) was synthesized by a rapid microwave-as- sisted co-precipitation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, scan- ning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray, and vi- brating sample magnetometer techniques. Modified glassy carbon electrode with Pt nanoparticles (PtNPs), functional- ized carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and SrFNPs as multifunc- tional catalyst is prepared and its catalytic activity toward methanol oxidation is investigated. Based on the electro- chemical studies, a PtNPs–CNTs–SrFNPs nanocomposite was shown a considerable activity for methanol oxidation in comparison of PtNPs, PtNPs–CNTs, and PtNPs–SrFNPs. A direct methanol fuel cell was designed, assembled, and tested with suggested PtNPs–CNTs–SrFNPs nanocomposites under several different conditions. The effect of some experimental factors such as temperature, methanol concentration, and flow rate as well as NaOH concentration on electrical performances of fuel cell were studied and optimized. Keywords SrFeO 3 nanoparticles  Platinum nanoparticles  Carbon nanotube  Methanol electrooxidation  Fuel cell 1 Introduction Fuel cells have been planned as one of the most promising energy sources by ever increasing energy demand in the future. During decades of research, different types of fuel cell have been developed. Among these types, the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) seems to be promising as a battery replacement for portable electronic devices such mobile phones and laptops [1]. Methanol as a liquid fuel has many benefits in comparison to hydrogen, such as simple structure, higher energy content, easy producing, safe storage/transportation, and low operating temperatures in fuel cell [2, 3]. One of the most serious drawbacks as- sociated with development of DMFCs is poor catalytic activity of the anode catalysts [4]. For overcome this problem, many electrocatalysts have been investigated. Among them, Pt is known as the best anode material, but it is expensive and its surface is poisoned by adsorption of methanol oxidation byproducts such as carbon monoxide (CO ads ). Various promising catalyst development strategies for DAFCs have been proposed in recent years [5, 6]. There are a lot of study about improving anodic catalyst activity and thus reducing noble metal loading in anode by adding elements (Ni, Sn, and Ru) to platinum [7, 8]. There are a numbers of the remarkable properties for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) such as mechanical stability, nanometer size, and large surface to volume ratio, in ad- dition to high electronic and thermal conductivity. Because of these properties, CNTs were used in recent studies as supporting materials due to their exceptional properties [9]. In other hand, perovskite oxide family (ABO 3 ) with several possible combinations of A and B cations (A = rare earth metals, B = transition metals) increase anodic reaction kinetics in DAFCs [10, 11]. These compounds have been used as catalytic materials in comprehensive chemical kinetics [12] and electrochemistry [13] as well as in important processes such as, oxidation of alcohols [14, 15], electrochemical evolution/reduction of oxygen, reduction of nitrogen oxides, and the chemical oxidation of CO and hydrocarbons [16, 17], etc. Z. Yavari  M. Noroozifar (&)  M. Khorasani-Motlagh Department of Chemistry, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran e-mail: mnoroozifar@chem.usb.ac.ir 123 J Appl Electrochem (2015) 45:439–451 DOI 10.1007/s10800-015-0806-3