Hexagonal PtBi intermetallic inlaid with sub-monolayer Pb oxyhydroxide boosts methanol oxidation

Abstract

Engineering multicomponent nanocatalysts is effective to improve electrocatalysis in many applications, yet it remains a challenge in constructing well-defined multimetallic active sites at the atomic level. Herein, the surface inlay of sub-monolayer Pb oxyhydroxide onto hexagonal PtBi intermetallic nanoplates with intrinsically isolated Pt atoms to boost the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is reported. The well-defined PtBi@6.7%Pb nanocatalyst exhibits 4.0 and 7.4 times higher mass activity than PtBi nanoplates and commercial Pt/C catalyst toward MOR in the alkaline electrolyte at 30 °C. Meanwhile, it also achieves a record-high mass activity of 51.07 A mg–1Pt at direct methanol fuel cells operation temperature of 60 °C. DFT calculations reveal that the introduction of Pb oxyhydroxide on the surface not only promotes the electron transfer efficiency but also suppresses the CO poisoning effect, and the efficient p-d coupling optimizes the electroactivity of PtBi@6.7%Pb nanoplates toward the MOR process with low reaction barriers. This work offers a nanoengineering strategy to effectively construct and modulate multimetallic nanocatalysts to improve the electroactivity toward the MOR in future research.