Cascaded <i>p–d</i> Orbital Hybridization Interaction in Ultrathin High‐Entropy Alloy Nanowires Boosts Complete Non‐CO Pathway of Methanol Oxidation Reaction

Abstract

Designing high efficiency platinum (Pt)-based catalysts for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) with high "non-CO" pathway selectivity is strongly desired and remains a grand challenge. Herein, PtRuNiCoFeGaPbW HEA ultrathin nanowires (HEA-8 UNWs) are synthesized, featuring unique cascaded p-d orbital hybridization interaction by inducing dual p-block metals (Ga and Pb). In comparison with Pt/C, HEA-8 UNWs exhibit 15.0- and 4.2-times promotion of specific and mass activity for MOR. More importantly, electrochemical in situ FITR spectroscopy reveals that the production/adsorption of CO (CO^*) intermediate is effectively avoided on HEA-8 UNWs, leading to the complete "non-CO" pathway for MOR. Theoretical calculations demonstrate the optimized electronic structure of HEA-8 UNWs can facilitates a lower energy barrier for the "non-CO" pathway in the MOR.