Coupling of alloying and interface effects in dendritic Au ‐ doped PtPd alloy/dumbbell ‐ like bismuth telluride heterostructures for ethanol and methanol electrooxidation

Abstract Alloying and interface effects are effective strategies for enhancing the performance of electrocatalysts in energy‐related devices. Herein, dendritic Au‐doped platinum‐palladium alloy/dumbbell‐like bismuth telluride heterostructures (denoted PtPdAu/BiTe) were synthesized using a visible‐light‐assisted strategy. The coupling alloy and interfacial effects of PtPdAu/BiTe significantly improved the performance and stability of both the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Introducing a small amount of Au effectively enhanced the CO tolerance of PtPdAu/BiTe compared to dendritic platinum‐palladium alloy/dumbbell‐like bismuth telluride heterostructures. PtPdAu/BiTe exhibited mass activities of 31.5 and 13.3 A·mg Pt −1 in EOR and MOR, respectively, which were 34.4 and 13.2 times higher than those of commercial Pt black, revealing efficient Pt atom utilization. In‐situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated complete 12e − and 6e − oxidation of ethanol and methanol on PtPdAu/BiTe. The PtPdAu/BiTe/C achieved mass peak power densities of 131 and 156 mW·mg Pt −1 , which were 2.4 and 2.2 times higher than those of Pt/C in practical direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) and direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), respectively, highlighting their potential application in DEFC and DMFC. This study introduces an effective strategy for designing efficient and highly CO tolerant anodic electrocatalysts for practical DEFC and DMFC applications.