Platinum-tin/tin oxide/CNT catalysts for high-performance electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation

Ethanol is a promising liquid clean energy source in the energy conversion field. However, the self-poisoning caused by the strongly adsorbed reaction intermediates (typically, CO) is a critical problem in ethanol oxidation reaction. To address this issue, we proposed a joint use of two strategies, alloying of Pt with other metals and building Pt/metal-oxide interfaces, to achieve high-performance electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation. For this, a well-designed synthetic route combining wet impregnation with a two-step thermal treatment process was established to construct PtSn/SnO x interfaces on carbon nanotubes. Using this route, the alloying of Pt-Sn and formation of PtSn-SnO x interfaces can simultaneously be achieved, and the coverage of SnO x thin films on PtSn alloy nanoparticles can be facilely tuned by the strong interaction between Pt and SnO x . The results revealed that the partial coverage of SnO x species not only retained the active sites, but also enhanced the CO anti-poisoning ability of the catalyst. Consequently, the H-PtSn/SnO x /CNT-2 catalyst with an optimized PtSn-SnO x interface showed significantly improved performances toward the ethanol oxidation reaction (825 mA mg Pt -1 ). This study provides deep insights into the structure-performance relationship of PtSn/metal oxide composite catalysts, which would be helpful for the future design and fabrication of high-performance Pt-based ethanol oxidation reaction catalysts.