Pt-Te alloy nanowires towards formic acid electrooxidation reaction

The high-performance anodic electrocatalysts is pivotal for realizing the commercial application of the direct formic acid fuel cells. In this work, a simple polyethyleneimine-assisted galvanic replacement reaction is applied to synthesize the high-quality PtTe alloy nanowires (PtTe NW) by using Te NW as an efficient sacrificial template. The existence of Te atoms separates the continuous Pt atoms, triggering a direct reaction pathway of formic acid electrooxidation reaction (FAEOR) at PtTe NW. The one-dimensional architecture and highly active sites have enabled PtTe NW to reveal outstanding electrocatalytic activity towards FAEOR with the mass/specific activities of 1091.25 mA mg−1/45.34 A m−2 at 0.643 V potential, which are 44.72/23.16 and 20.26/11.75 times bigger than those of the commercial Pt and Pd nanoparticles, respectively. Density functional theory calculations reveal that Te atoms optimize the electronic structure of Pt atoms, which decreases the adsorption capacity of CO intermediate and simultaneously improves the durability of PtTe NW towards FAEOR. This work provides the valuable insights into the synthesis and design of efficient Pt-based alloy FAEOR electrocatalysts.