Integrating Low Pt-Based Ternary NiRuPt Nanoalloy on Hybrid TiO-Based Oxide-Carbon Composite for Enhanced Ethanol Oxidation.

Ternary NiRuPt nanoscale alloy on hybrid TiIrO-C composite is herein reported to overcome the high cost and tenuous catalytic efficiency of anode catalysts in direct ethanol fuel cells. The small-size NiRuPt alloy is anchored on the TiIrO-C surface via a NaBH-ethylene glycol-assisted coreduction route. Benefiting from advantages of favorable structure and synergistic effects of compounds, the NiRuPt/TiIrO-C catalyst exhibits high electrocatalytic performance for the ethanol electro-oxidation reaction (EOR) with mass activity of 720.75 mA mg and specific activity of 2.15 mA cm, which are 2.25- and 5-fold increases compared to those of the Pt/C (E-TEK) catalyst. The as-synthesized EOR catalyst also shows impressive anti-CO-poisoning ability and great electrocatalytic stability after 5000-cycling ADT. This work can open up an efficient strategy for designing multicomponent catalysts to reduce Pt content and enhance the catalytic performance of electrocatalysts in renewable energy-related technologies.