Engineering of Amorphous PtOx Interface on Pt/WO3 Nanosheets for Ethanol Oxidation Electrocatalysis

Abstract Direct and complete electro‐oxidation of ethanol to CO 2 is highly desirable for the commercialization of the direct ethanol fuel cells but is challenging. Current electrocatalysts (mainly Pt, Pd) for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), unfortunately, still suffer from low CO 2 selectivity and rapid performance deterioration. In this study, a new Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 electrocatalyst containing amorphous PtO x structures is successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal reaction following Ar atmosphere annealing. The migration of lattice oxygens in the WO 3 during the annealing process is confirmed as the mechanism for the formation and manipulation of amorphous interfaces containing PtO x species in the Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 electrocatalyst. The obtained Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 with tunable amorphous PtO x interfaces favors the desorption of poisoning EOR intermediates (such as CO) and high CO 2 selectivity. Therefore, the state‐of‐art of the Pt/α‐PtO x /WO 3 exhibits excellent EOR activity (2.76 A mg –1 ), stability (47.99% of the initial activity preserved after 3600 s), and particularly high CO 2 selectivity (reached 21.9%, higher than most reported values for Pt or other noble metals based EOR catalysts). This study may provide a new strategy to improve the EOR performance of metal‐based catalysts and to rationally design and prepare other high‐performing electrocatalysts via engineering the amorphous interfaces.