Recent advances in porous Pt-based nanostructures: synthesis and electrochemical applications

Porous Pt-based nanostructured materials possess intriguing physical and chemical properties to generate promising potential for various important applications such as fuel cells, sensors, stimulation electrodes, mechanical actuators and catalysis. With the great advances in material science and nanotechnology, porous Pt-based nanomaterials with well-controlled composition, shape, and geometrical configuration have been rationally designed and fabricated. Importantly, their superior properties including unique pore structure, large specific surface area and excellent structural stability have fuelled up great interest to improve their current performance and to explore new applications. This tutorial review attempts to summarize the recent important progress towards the development of porous Pt-based nanostructured materials, with special emphasis on fabrication methods and advanced electrochemical applications, such as electrocatalysis and electrochemical sensors. The correlations between the composition and morphology of the catalysts and their catalytic properties are discussed based on some important and representative examples. Some key scientific issues and potential future directions of research in this field are also discussed.