Green hydrogen generation from methanol electrolysis employing an efficient Pt/1T′-MoTe2 catalyst

Methanol-assisted water electrolysis is a promising strategy for sustainable and energy-efficient hydrogen production; however, catalyst deactivation due to CO poisoning remains a major challenge. Herein, we report a highly efficient bifunctional catalyst obtained by depositing Pt nanoparticles over 1T′-Pt-MoTe2/NC support (Pt-MoTe2/NC) derived from the polymerised polyoxometalates modified poly-pyrrole, which showcases outstanding activity and stability for methanol electrolysis. The in situ infrared spectroscopy and CO-stripping experiments demonstrate very high resistance to CO poisoning. Theoretical calculations indicate that MoTe2 alters the electronic environment around Pt through strong interactions, leading to optimised adsorption energy for pivotal intermediates (CO∗ and H∗). Specifically, Pt-MoTe2/NC achieves a high methanol oxidation peak current density of 74.4 mA cm−2 and an ultra-low hydrogen evolution overpotential of 35 mV at 10 mA cm−2, both outperforming commercial Pt/C catalysts. The largely improved catalyst kinetics, stability and intrinsic activity confirmed the greatly depressed deactivation from the poisoning effect. In an electrolyser for methanol electrolysis, energy-saving hydrogen generation was observed with the cell voltage input largely reduced by 0.66 V provided by Pt-MoTe2/NC to reach 10 mA cm−2, with high stability for 100 h. This work offers a novel platform and a significant step forward for green hydrogen production via methanol electrolysis.