Engineering pyridinic and pyrrolic N-enriched graphene quantum dots to strengthen metal-support interactions for highly efficient methanol oxidation

Structural engineering carbon support in controlling the dopant concentrations or types and their homogeneity is an effective way to modulate the catalytic properties of Pt-based materials. Herein, we reported a convenient and scalable strategy to incorporate pyridinic and pyrrolic N components into the carbon matrix via quantum dots anchoring pathway. The newly designed carbon can accurately regulate the N contents, and importantly, exposes numerous functional edge sites for growing and stabilizing Pt nanoparticles with a very narrow size distribution. Experimental validation identified that a strengthened metal-support interaction is afforded on this Pt/NCB-n architecture, which significantly optimizes its catalytic behaviors toward the methanol electrooxidation process. Combining its unique textural features including unimpeded electron conductivity, intensive N components on the triple-phase boundaries, and sufficient accessible catalytically active centers, the obtained Pt/NCB-n exhibits a marvelous electrocatalytic activity accompanied by distinguished antipoisoning ability and reliable long-term stability, holding great potential as substitutes for conventional Pt-activated carbon catalysts. This study paves a new avenue to develop more effective carbon-based supports for constructing advanced electrocatalysts and can also be extended to the next-generation metal-air batteries, metal-ion batteries, or sensors.Graphical abstract