Multimetallic Pt-Based Alloy Nanowires Library as a Platform for Selective Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethylene Glycol.

Liu, Yaming; Hu, Zhenle; Zhu, Xinrui; Li, Xinyu; Zuo, Tong; Zhao, Yutian; Liu, Guoqiang; Cheng, Yanting et al. · ACS Nano · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

While traditional Pt-based catalysts suffer from inadequate selectivity and stability in electrocatalytic ethylene glycol oxidation reactions, we present a general and scalable synthesis strategy, fabricating a broad multimetallic Pt-based alloy nanowires (NWs) library from binary to quinary. Among these, the PtAgCuRhRu NWs exhibit exceptional performance, with a mass activity ∼8 times higher than that of Pt/C and a Faradaic efficiency for glycolic acid (GA) reaching 93.49%. In the membrane electrode assembly electrolyzer, the catalyst maintained its activity over 140 h with 99% GA selectivity. In situ experimental and theoretical calculations reveal oxygenophilic Rh and Ru promote *OH adsorption, facilitating the conversion of *COCH<sub>2</sub>OH to GA and the oxidative removal of CO<sub>ads</sub>, enhancing activity and stability. Additionally, the high energy barrier for C-C bond cleavage suppresses undesired decomposition due to the introduction of Ag and Cu, leading to superior GA selectivity.