Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs)
are a type of promising portable
power source with low environmental pollution and high energy density.
However, the further commercialization of DEFCs is hindered by the
incomplete oxidation of ethanol on the electrocatalysts. Herein, we
report a successful synthesis of ultrathin PdPtH nanosheets (NSs)
for the first time by the in situ formation of interstitial
hydrogen atoms accompanied by wet-chemical coreduction of Pd and Pt
precursors. The PdPtH NSs possess selectivity of 15.1% related to
C–C bond splitting for ethanol complete oxidation to CO2 through the C1 pathway at a low potential, while
the contrast selectivity is 4.8% for Pt black, 9.2% for commercial
Pd black, and 11.7 for PdH NSs, respectively. Accordingly, the PdPtH
NSs exhibited enhanced catalytic activity in comparison to the counterparts.
The mass activity toward ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) of the PdPtH
NSs is 5.2 times and 87 times higher than that of commercial Pd and
commercial Pt, respectively. The structure stability and growth mechanism
of the PdPtH NSs were also investigated. The results of in
situ Fourier transform infrared spectra revealed a stronger
C–C bond cleavage ability and CO stripping shows the better
antipoisoning properties of the PdPtH NSs arising from the cooperation
of the PdPt alloy with interstitial H atoms.