Phosphorus Doped MoO₂ Enhanced Pt Catalyst for Methanol Oxidation

Abstract The sluggish kinetics of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) required high‐performing catalysts in the development of direct methanol fuel cells. Herein, a phosphorus‐doped MoO 2 nanorods‐supported Pt catalyst was proposed which exhibited remarkably enhanced catalytic performance toward MOR in comparison with Pt/MoO 2 and commercial Pt/C. Specifically, the Pt/MoO 2 ‐P possessed the highest peak current density of 62.63 mA cm −2 , about 1.38 and 2.21 times higher than that of Pt/MoO 2 (45.24 mA cm −2 ) and Pt/C (28.40 mA cm −2 ), respectively. Meanwhile, the Pt/MoO 2 ‐P possessed high intrinsic activity expressed by specific activity and mass activity, and largely improved catalytic kinetics. Moreover, the chronoamperometry and CO‐stripping testing successfully revealed the superior stability and CO‐poisoning resistance of Pt/MoO 2 ‐P, rendering Pt/MoO 2 ‐P a promising catalyst for MOR. The theoretical calculation revealed the electron redistribution and strong metal‐support interaction among Pt/MoO 2 ‐P catalysts. The greatly enhanced catalytic performance could be attributed to the heteroatom doping engineering, greatly enhancing the conductivity, and inducing electron redistribution, thereby leading to the strong metal‐support interaction and high CO‐anti poisoning ability.