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Structure engineering of PtCu3/C catalyst from disordered to ordered intermetallic compound with heat-treatment for the methanol electrooxidation reaction

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Abstract

Platinum based alloys are hereinto the mostly used methanol oxidation catalysts. However, there are limited ways to improve the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) performance of catalysts in terms of both activity and stability. Herein we developed a simple heat-treatment method to synthesize PtCu3/C intermetallic compound catalyst with lattice compression. The as-prepared PtCu3/C-1000 exhibited high specific activity of 3.23 mA·cm−1 and mass activity of 1,200 mA·mgPt−1, which is much higher than the PtCu3/C-untreated and commercial Pt/C catalysts, respectively. The XAS and DFT results shows the high activity of the catalyst towards MOR comes from the tightening of the Pt-M bond, which leads to the decrease of Fermi energy level and the make it difficulty in adsorbing carbon intermediates, thus releasing more active sites to promote the improvement of MOR performance. Moreover, the PtCu3/C-1000 shows better stability which is due to the surface-rich Pt prevents Cu from dissolution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51872209 and 51972239), the Key programs for Science and Technology Innovation of Wenzhou (No. 2018ZG005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of New Materials & Industry Technology, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, 325024, China

    Zihao Xing, Jun Li, Shun Wang & Huile Jin

  2. Institute of Microscale Optoelectronics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Chenliang Su

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  1. Zihao Xing
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  2. Jun Li
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  3. Shun Wang
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  4. Chenliang Su
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  5. Huile Jin
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Correspondence to Chenliang Su or Huile Jin.

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Structure engineering of PtCu3/C catalyst from disordered to ordered intermetallic compound with heat-treatment for the methanol electrooxidation reaction

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Xing, Z., Li, J., Wang, S. et al. Structure engineering of PtCu3/C catalyst from disordered to ordered intermetallic compound with heat-treatment for the methanol electrooxidation reaction. Nano Res. 15, 3866–3871 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3993-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3993-8

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