Engineering of Amorphous PtO<sub>x</sub> Interface on Pt/WO<sub>3</sub> Nanosheets for Ethanol Oxidation Electrocatalysis
Liangping Xiao, Guang Li, Yang Zhou, Kai Chen, Rusen Zhou, Hong‐Gang Liao, Qingchi Xu, Jun Xu
Abstract
Abstract Direct and complete electro‐oxidation of ethanol to CO 2 is highly desirable for the commercialization of the direct ethanol fuel cells but is challenging. Current electrocatalysts (mainly Pt, Pd) for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), unfortunately, still suffer from low CO 2 selectivity and rapid performance deterioration. In this study, a new Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 electrocatalyst containing amorphous PtO x structures is successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal reaction following Ar atmosphere annealing. The migration of lattice oxygens in the WO 3 during the annealing process is confirmed as the mechanism for the formation and manipulation of amorphous interfaces containing PtO x species in the Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 electrocatalyst. The obtained Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 with tunable amorphous PtO x interfaces favors the desorption of poisoning EOR intermediates (such as CO) and high CO 2 selectivity. Therefore, the state‐of‐art of the Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 exhibits excellent EOR activity (2.76 A mg –1 ), stability (47.99% of the initial activity preserved after 3600 s), and particularly high CO 2 selectivity (reached 21.9%, higher than most reported values for Pt or other noble metals based EOR catalysts). This study may provide a new strategy to improve the EOR performance of metal‐based catalysts and to rationally design and prepare other high‐performing electrocatalysts via engineering the amorphous interfaces.