Ultrathin PtNiGaSnMoRe Senary Nanowires with Partial Amorphous Structure Enable Remarkable Methanol Oxidation Electrocatalysis

Abstract

Finding a high CO‐tolerance Pt‐based catalyst plays a critical role for direct methanol fuel cells. Therefore, it is necessary to design controllable nanostructure and composition. Herein, a synthesis of ultrathin PtNiGaSnMoRe senary nanowires (SNWs) that features the virtues of partial amorphous structure, multimetallic ensembles, and ultrathin diameter is reported. For the alkaline methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), the SNWs deliver an excellent mass activity of 6.2 A mg −1 Pt and a specific activity of 12.3 mA cm −2 , respectively. More significantly, after undergoing 10 000 s of a durability test, its mass activity remains 13.0 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C catalyst, which is mainly attributed to the faster CO‐intermediate (CO * ) removal and advanced nanostructure. In situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies and CO stripping experiments indicate its remarkable resistance to CO poisoning. Theoretical studies further reveal that the SNWs enable reduced energy barriers for the conversion of CO * into COOH * derived from the decreased CO * binding and intensified OH adsorption that accelerate the combination of both, thus essentially improving the MOR performance and CO tolerance.