Pt-Bi on carbon aerogels as efficient electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation reaction in alkaline medium

Platinum-containing multimetallic catalysts supported on carbon materials have become one of the main choices for direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) due to their high catalytic activity for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). In this study, a platinum-bismuth alloy catalyst (PtBi@CA) with uniform distribution and small particles was provided by a one-step reduction method without the addition of structure directing agents and stabilizers. In the half-cell test, PtBi@CA(50-50) with the smallest crystallite size has high peak current density and pseudo-steady current density of 64.336 mA/cm2 and 0.096 mA/cm2, respectively, which is 11.22 times and 1.85 times the high of the most advanced commercial carbon-supported platinum catalysts (Pt/C). The method is simple and feasible, greatly reduces the amounts of precious metals, and has broad application prospects in the synthesis of anode electrocatalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, a platinum-bismuth alloy catalyst (PtBi@CA) was synthesized by a one-step reduction method without the use of structure directing agents and stabilizers. The PtBi@CA(50-50) catalyst exhibited the smallest crystallite size and achieved high peak current density and pseudo-steady current density of 64.336 mA/cm2 and 0.096 mA/cm2, respectively, which were 11.22 times and 1.85 times higher than those of the most advanced commercial carbon-supported platinum catalysts (Pt/C). This method offers a simple and feasible approach to significantly reduce the usage of precious metals and shows great potential in the synthesis of anode electrocatalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells.