Nanoporous Core-Shell Multifunctional Electrocatalysts Toward Flexible Ethanol Fuel Cells

The advancement of flexible direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) is crucial for the promotion and application of the new generation of wearable and flexible electronic products. However, problems such as poor anti-poisoning of catalysts and serious fuel leakage have hindered the development of flexible DAFCs. In this study, a nanoporous gold -loaded PtPdRhCo quaternary core-shell catalyst is successfully prepared via a simple electrodeposition method. Consequently, the quaternary core-shell catalyst exhibits superior mass activities for the ethanol oxidation reaction (25.20 A·mg_Pt ^-1), methanol oxidation reaction (19.30 A·mg_Pt ^-1), and oxygen reduction reaction (0.82 A·mg_Pt ^-1), respectively. On this basis, a flexible direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) is assembled with two carbon cloths containing catalysts and sodium polyacrylate-sodium alginate hydrogel electrolyte between the two carbon cloths. Electrochemical tests show that flexible DEFC achieves a stable output potential of 0.55 V and a maximum power density of 17.68 mW·cm^-2. Overall, this effort provides an important reference for the development of flexible energy devices based on nanoporous metals/alloys.