Ultrathin AuCu Nanodendrites for Efficient Ethylene Glycol Electrooxidation

Developing highly efficient electrocatalysts for the oxidation of ethylene glycol to produce high‐value‐added chemicals is crucial for enhancing electrocatalytic performance of direct fuel cells and achieving high‐value utilization of waste resources. This study successfully synthesized ultrathin, highly branched gold–copper nanodendrites (AuCu NDs) via a one‐pot synthesis strategy using surfactant templates. Systematic characterization revealed that carboxyl‐functionalized surfactants are crucial for forming the two‐dimensional dendritic structure, while the doping of Cu effectively modulates the electronic structure of Au crystals. When applied to EGOR, AuCu NDs exhibited outstanding catalytic performance with a mass activity of 7.93 A mg Au −1 , ≈6.54 times as that of commercial Pd/C catalysts, while maintaining excellent stability after 5000 s of constant current testing. NMR analysis confirmed the simultaneous presence of formic acid and glycolic acid in the electrolytic products, indicating that this catalyst possesses both efficient CC bond cleavage and a certain degree of CC bond retention capability, thereby achieving control over the reaction pathway. This work provides a universal synthetic strategy for designing high‐performance gold‐based bimetallic electrocatalysts for the high‐value conversion of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste.