Pt Atomic Layers with Tensile Strain and Rich Defects Boost Ethanol Electrooxidation.

Surface and strain engineering are two effective strategies to improve performance; however, synergetic controls of surface and strain effects remains a grand challenge. Herein, we report a highly efficient and stable electrocatalyst with defect-rich Pt atomic layers coating an ordered PtSn intermetallic core. Pt atomic layers enable the generation of 4.4% tensile strain along the [001] direction. Benefiting from synergetic controls of surface and strain engineering, Pt atomic-layer catalyst (Pt) achieves a remarkable enhancement on ethanol electrooxidation performance with excellent specific activity of 5.83 mA cm and mass activity of 1166.6 mA mg , which is 10.6 and 3.6 times higher than the commercial Pt/C, respectively. Moreover, the intermetallic core endows Pt with outstanding durability. In situ infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy as well as density functional theory calculations reveal that tensile strain and rich defects of Pt facilitate to break C-C bond for complete ethanol oxidation for enhanced performance.