A review of approaches for the design of high-performance electrocatalysts for ethanol electrooxidation

In spite of tremendous efforts invested over the past decade, most electrocatalysts for ethanol electrooxidation suffer from highly limited activity, stability and selectivity towards the C-C bond cleavage. So developing excellent performance electrocatalysts for ethanol electrooxidation is the key objective, which can promote the commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells. In this review, we summarize some strategies to improve the efficiency of ethanol electrooxidation considering the cost and performance based Pt- or Pd-based electrocatalysts. The strategies are including chemical doping of supported material, Pt or Pd alloyed with other metals, Pt or Pd mixed with metal oxides, and morphology-controlled Pt- or Pd-based electrocatalysts. Finally, we look forward to the future direction of development and this paper will provide new ideas to design high performance electrocatalysts for ethanol electrooxidation.