Pt-Regulated Dynamic Cu(0) Regeneration in CuPt Alloy Enables High-Efficiency Self-Driven Formaldehyde Fuel Cells for...

Efficient and clean conversion of carbon-based molecular fuels into electricity without CO₂ emission remains a great challenge. Herein, formaldehyde was employed as a novel fuel catalyzed by a Cu₃₀Pt_X/CF anode, which was fabricated via electrodeposition. The electronic interaction between Pt and Cu boosts H^* dimerization into H₂ (the rate-determining step), facilitates the desorption of formic acid, and promotes the regeneration of Cu⁰ active sites, thus enhancing the catalytic activity and stability and broadening the potential window for formaldehyde oxidation. Furthermore, a direct formaldehyde fuel cell was constructed, in which the one-electron oxidation of formaldehyde proceeds with high selectivity on the Cu anode without the CO₂ formation pathway. This fuel cell delivers an open-circuit voltage of 0.94 V and a peak power density of 34.3 mW cm^-2, and enables the highly selective production of potassium formate while generating electricity spontaneously with a Faradaic efficiency approaching 100%. This work realizes the co-generation of electrical energy and high-value-added chemicals, providing a new strategy and mechanistic basis for the design of high-performance direct formaldehyde fuel cells (DFFC).