Strong Component-Interaction in N-doped 2D Ti3C2Tx-Supported Pt Electrocatalyst for Acidic Ethanol Oxidation Reaction

Abstract

Designing electrocatalysts with the selective C─C bond breaking in ethanol electro-oxidation is of interest as an efficient strategy to accelerate the large-scale applications of direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs).Pt nanoparticles (NPs) are herein on N-doped 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene via two-step synthesis steps including NH3-assisted hydrothermal and NaBH4-assisted ethylene glycol reduction routes. With the selective C─C bond breaking, the as-obtained 16 wt.% Pt/N-Ti3C2Tx catalyst exhibits 435.35 mA mgPt−1 mass activity and 0.83 mA cm−2 specific activity, being 1.26- and 1.77-fold increase compared to those of commercially available 20 wt.% Pt/C (346.21 mA mgPt−1 and 0.47 mA cm−2). This originates from the advantages of unique 2D structures and the strong interplay between Pt NPs and nitrogen-doped Ti3C2Tx. Also, the Pt/N-Ti3C2Tx shows superior CO-poisoning resistance and long-term stability for the acidic ethanol electro-oxidation reaction (EOR). This work demonstrates the potential of heteroatom-doped Ti3C2Tx MXenes to increase the C1 pathway selectivity and the catalytic performance of Pt-based electrocatalysts in DEFCs.