Improving catalyst performance and understanding reaction mechanism of formic acid electrooxidation (FAO), a typical anodic reaction in fuel cells, are of technological and scientific importance. Here, Pt-Au/C catalysts were designed and synthesized for catalyzing the FAO reaction. An ultrasound-assisted method was developed to enable the uniform and dense loading of Pt and Au on carbon black without any surfactant. The Pt-Au/C sample with a Pt/Au atomic ratio of 32:68 exhibits an FAO catalytic activity of 14.5 A mg_Pt⁻¹, which is 153 times higher than that of Pt/C. The extraordinary performance is attributed to the optimized synergistic effect of Pt and Au. Density functional theory calculations disclose that the neighboring Au decreases the reaction energy barriers of the direct pathway on Pt. This work demonstrates a promising FAO catalyst and an effective strategy to obtain supported catalysts.

改善催化剂性能和了解甲酸电氧化（FAO）是燃料电池中的典型阳极反应，具有重要的技术和科学意义。在此，设计并合成了Pt-Au / C催化剂以催化FAO反应。开发了一种超声辅助方法，可以在没有任何表面活性剂的情况下在炭黑上均匀且致密地负载Pt和Au。Pt / Au原子比为32:68的Pt-Au / C样品的FAO催化活性为14.5 A mg _Pt ^-1，这是Pt / C的153倍。非凡的性能归因于Pt和Au的优化协同效应。密度泛函理论计算表明，相邻的Au降低了Pt上直接路径的反应能垒。这项工作证明了粮农组织有希望的催化剂，以及获得支持的催化剂的有效策略。