Due to their environmentally friendly nature and high energy density,direct ethanol fuel cells have attracted extensive research attention in recent decades.However,the actual Faraday efficiency of the ethanol oxidati...Due to their environmentally friendly nature and high energy density,direct ethanol fuel cells have attracted extensive research attention in recent decades.However,the actual Faraday efficiency of the ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR)is much lower than its theoretical value and the reaction kinetics of the EOR is sluggish due to insufficient active sites on the electrocatalyst surface.Pt/C is recognized as one of the most promising electrocatalysts for the EOR.Thus,the microscopic interfacial reaction mechanisms of the EOR on Pt/C were systematically studied in this work.In metal hydroxide solutions,hydrated alkali cations were found to bind with OH_(ad)through noncovalent interactions to form clusters and occupy the active sites on the Pt/C electrocatalyst surface,thus resulting in low Faraday efficiency and sluggish kinetics of the EOR.To reduce the negative effect of the noncovalent interactions on the EOR,a shield was made on the electrocatalyst surface using 4-trifluoromethylphenyl,resulting in twice the EOR catalytic reactivity of Pt/C.展开更多
基金National Key R&D Program of China under Grant,Grant/Award Number:2021YFC1910601National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant/Award Number:52104402HBIS Group Co.,Ltd Key R&D Program under Grant,Grant/Award Numbers:20210032,HG2022111。
文摘Due to their environmentally friendly nature and high energy density,direct ethanol fuel cells have attracted extensive research attention in recent decades.However,the actual Faraday efficiency of the ethanol oxidation reaction(EOR)is much lower than its theoretical value and the reaction kinetics of the EOR is sluggish due to insufficient active sites on the electrocatalyst surface.Pt/C is recognized as one of the most promising electrocatalysts for the EOR.Thus,the microscopic interfacial reaction mechanisms of the EOR on Pt/C were systematically studied in this work.In metal hydroxide solutions,hydrated alkali cations were found to bind with OH_(ad)through noncovalent interactions to form clusters and occupy the active sites on the Pt/C electrocatalyst surface,thus resulting in low Faraday efficiency and sluggish kinetics of the EOR.To reduce the negative effect of the noncovalent interactions on the EOR,a shield was made on the electrocatalyst surface using 4-trifluoromethylphenyl,resulting in twice the EOR catalytic reactivity of Pt/C.
