Sub-Monolayer YOx /MoOx on Ultrathin Pt Nanowires Boosts Alcohol Oxidation Electrocatalysis.
Menggang LiZhonglong ZhaoWeiyu ZhangMingchuan LuoLu TaoYingjun SunZhonghong XiaYuguang ChaoKun YinQinghua ZhangLin GuWeiwei YangYongsheng YuGang LuShaojun GuoPublished in: Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) (2021)
A crucial issue restricting the application of direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) is the low activity of Pt-based electrocatalysts for alcohol oxidation reaction caused by the reaction intermediate (CO*) poisoning. Herein, a new strategy is demonstrated for making a class of sub-monolayer YOx /MoOx -surface co-decorated ultrathin platinum nanowires (YOx /MoOx -Pt NWs) to effectively eliminate the CO poisoning for enhancing methanol oxidation electrocatalysis. By adjusting the amounts of YOx and MoOx decorated on the surface of ultrathin Pt NWs, the optimized 22% YOx /MoOx -Pt NWs achieve a high specific activity of 3.35 mA cm-2 and a mass activity of 2.10 A mgPt -1 , as well as the enhanced stability. In situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and CO stripping studies confirm the contribution of YOx and MoOx to anti-CO poisoning ability of the NWs. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further reveal that the surface Y and Mo atoms with oxidation states allow COOH* to bind the surface through both the carbon and oxygen atoms, which can lower the free energy barriers for the oxidation of CO* into COOH*. The optimal NWs also show the superior activities toward the electro-oxidation of ethanol, ethylene glycol, and glycerol.
Keyphrases
- density functional theory
- hydrogen peroxide
- electron transfer
- molecular dynamics
- reduced graphene oxide
- visible light
- induced apoptosis
- nitric oxide
- genome wide
- high resolution
- room temperature
- signaling pathway
- cell proliferation
- alcohol consumption
- gene expression
- gold nanoparticles
- single cell
- molecular dynamics simulations
- highly efficient