The slow kinetics and pronounced CO poisoning of the dimethyl ether oxidation reaction (DOR) limit the development of direct dimethyl ether fuel cells. In this work, a hybrid support was constructed in which nitrogen-doped tin oxide (N-SnO2) nanoparticles were encapsulated inside multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) through a melt-infiltration and in situ doping approach. Pt nanoparticles were then deposited by ethylene glycol reduction, yielding a core–shell structured Pt/N-SnO2@MWCNT catalyst. Nitrogen doping (N-doping) introduces abundant oxygen vacancies, which effectively anchor and stabilize highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles, leading to a unique triple-phase Pt–N–SnO2–MWCNTs interface. The resulting catalyst exhibits an electrochemical active surface area (ESA) of 113.45 m2·g–1 and delivers a superior DOR mass activity of 250.74 mA·mgpt–1. It also shows improved durability, retaining 74.2% of its initial ESA after 5000 cycles, together with a lower charge transfer resistance of 7.82 Ω·cm–2. The enhanced performance originates from the synergy between oxygen vacancy-stabilized Pt dispersion, the distinctive triple-phase interface, and a strong metal–support interaction. This study offers a viable route for designing high-performance electrocatalysts toward efficient DOR.
Sun et al. (Thu,) studied this question.