Four kinds of rare earth metal Ions(Y3+,Tb3+,Eu3+ and Pr3+) were appended into the methanol aqueous solution respectively as an additive and the cyclic voltammograms of the aqueous solutions were studied. The results show that Y3+ and Tb3+ had an obvious promotion effect on the electro-oxidation of methanol.The additives Y3+ and Tb3+ could improve the methanol anodic oxidation current by 85%,and Eu3+ and Pr3+ had little promotion effect on the electro-oxidation of methanol.The results also show that the promotion effect of the rare earth metal ions were related with the electronic distribution of these elements and their adsorption on the Pt electrode surface.
