Insight into the ordering process and ethanol oxidation performance of Au–Pt–Cu ternary alloys

Abstract

Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs), which have been widely recognized as nontoxic and green energy conversion devices, show attractive application prospects for liquid hydrogen-carriers, due to the higher specific energy and lower toxicity of ethanol. Pt-based catalysts are widely used in DEFCs, while their poor poisoning resistance highlights the importance of composition and structure optimization. Herein, we synthesized a series of reduced graphene oxide supported ternary alloy Au_xPt_1−xCu₃/rGO (x = 0-1) catalysts with excellent ethanol oxidation performance and a composition-dependent volcano plot trend of the ordering degree was observed and rationalized. The highest Pt-normalized mass activity of Au_0.8Pt_0.2Cu₃/rGO is attributed to the optimized CO binding energy according to DFT calculations. This work not only provides an efficient EOR catalyst based on ordered alloys Au_xPt_1−xCu₃ (x = 0-1), but also offers valuable insight into the role of a third metal in tuning the structure and function of alloys.