Electron-enriched Pt induced by CoSe2 promoted bifunctional catalytic ability for low carbon alcohol fuel electro-reforming of hydrogen evolution

Alcohol fuel electro-reforming is promising for green hydrogen generation while developing efficient bifunctional catalysts for alcohol fuel electrolysis is still very tricky. Herein, we for the first time proposed the electron-enriched Pt induced by CoSe2 has an efficient bi-functional catalytic ability for alcohol fuels electro-reforming of hydrogen in acid electrolytes. The theoretical calculation revealed the advantages of electron-enriched Pt surface for the adsorption of intermediate, which is well supported by spectroscopic analysis and CO-stripping techniques. Largely improved catalytic performances of activity, durability, and kinetics are demonstrated compared to the conventional alloy system and commercial Pt/C catalyst, due to the efficient synergism of Pt and CoSe2; the peak current density of Pt/CoSe2 for methanol (ethanol) oxidation is 87.61 (48.27) mA cm−2, which is about 3.3 (2.0) times higher than that of Pt/C catalyst and 2.0 (1.5) times that of the traditional PtCo alloy catalysts. Impressively, about 80% of the initial current was found after 1000 cycles of stability test for alcohol fuel oxidation of Pt/CoSe2 catalyst, higher than that of Pt/C (ca. 50%) and PtCo catalyst (65%). When Pt/CoSe2 catalyst serviced as bi-functional catalysts for electrolyzer, a low cell potential of 0.65 (0.78) V for methanol (ethanol) electrolysis was required to reach 10 mA cm−2, which was about 1030 (900) mV less than that of conventional water electrolysis using Pt/C as the catalyst. The current result is instructive for the design of novel bifunctional catalyst and the understanding of hydrogen generation via alcohol fuel electro-reforming.