Single-atom catalyst for high-performance methanol oxidation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34475400.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-25562-y and PMC identifier 8413426.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Single-atom catalysts have been widely investigated for several electrocatalytic reactions except electrochemical alcohol oxidation. Herein, we synthesize atomically dispersed platinum on ruthenium oxide (Pt<sub>1</sub>/RuO<sub>2</sub>) using a simple impregnation-adsorption method. We find that Pt<sub>1</sub>/RuO<sub>2</sub> has good electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation in an alkaline media with a mass activity that is 15.3-times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (6766 vs. 441 mA mg<sup>‒1</sup><sub>Pt</sub>). In contrast, single atom Pt on carbon black is inert. Further, the mass activity of Pt<sub>1</sub>/RuO<sub>2</sub> is superior to that of most Pt-based catalysts previously developed. Moreover, Pt<sub>1</sub>/RuO<sub>2</sub> has a high tolerance towards CO poisoning, resulting in excellent catalytic stability. Ab initio simulations and experiments reveal that the presence of Pt‒O<sub>3f</sub> (3-fold coordinatively bonded O)‒Ru<sub>cus</sub> (coordinatively unsaturated Ru) bonds with the undercoordinated bridging O in Pt<sub>1</sub>/RuO<sub>2</sub> favors the electrochemical dehydrogenation of methanol with lower energy barriers and onset potential than those encountered for Pt‒C and Pt‒Ru.