Achieving a functional and durable non-platinum group metal-based methanol oxidation catalyst is critical for a cost-effective direct methanol fuel cell. While Ni(OH)2 has been widely studied as methanol oxidation catalyst, the initial process of oxidizing Ni(OH)2 to NiOOH requires a high potential of 1.35 V vs. RHE. Such potential would be impractical since the theoretical potential of the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction is at 1.23 V. Here we show that a four-coordinated nickel atom is able to form charge-transfer orbitals through delocalization of electrons near the Fermi energy level. As such, our previously reported periodically arranged four-six-coordinated nickel hydroxide nanoribbon structure (NR-Ni(OH)2) is able to show remarkable methanol oxidation activity with an onset potential of 0.55 V vs. RHE and suggests the operability in direct methanol fuel cell configuration. Thus, this strategy offers a gateway towards the development of high performance and durable non-platinum direct methanol fuel cell.

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Band structure of transition metal oxides plays a critical role in many applications such as photo-catalysis, photovoltaics, and electroluminescent devices. In this work we report findings that the band structure of MoO3 can be significantly altered by a distortion in the octahedral coordination structure. We discovered that, in addition to epitaxial type of structural strain, chemical force such as hydrogen inclusion can also cause extended lattice distortion. The lattice distortion in hydrogenated MoO3 led to a significant reduction of the energy gap, overshadowing the Moss-Burstein effect of band filling. Charge doping simulations revealed that filling of conduction band drives the lattice distortion. This suggests that any charge transfer or n-type electron doping could lead to lattice distortion and consequentially a reduction in energy gap.