Ni-N-C support boosts PtRu sub-nanocluster for effective methanol oxidation reaction

Exploring efficient and durable methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) electrocatalysts is crucial for the industrialization of direct methanol fuel cells. Herein, we designed MOR electrocatalyst of PtRu/Ni-N-C, in which PtRu nanoclusters (PtRu NCs) are loading on nitrogen-doping carbon support anchoring Ni single atoms (Ni-N-C). Compared with PtRu NCs and Pt/C, PtRu/Ni-N-C exhibits more excellent MOR activity with 2050 mA mg pt -1 and tougher anti-CO toxicity over 6000 s CA test, proving that the synergetic effect of nanoclusters and single atoms support enhance MOR activity and resistance to anti-CO toxicity. The fine spectroscopy analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that the strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) between nanoclusters and single atoms, facilitating the electron transfer of about 0.4 e from PtRu NCs to the Ni-N-C support, effectively reduces the d -band center of Pt to weaken the adsorption capacity of *CO and *COOH intermediates. Moreover, the synergistic sites derived PtRu NCs coupling Ni single atoms accelerate *OH adsorption, promoting the adjacent *CO removal. This work offers deep insight into the SMSI effect between nanoclusters and single atoms support to design the efficient Pt-based MOR electrocatalysts.