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Updated: Dec 23, 2025
Synthesis of Platinum-nickel Nanowires and Optimization for Oxygen Reduction Performance
Published on: April 27, 2018
Efficient polyalcohol oxidation electrocatalysts enabled by PtM (M = Fe, Co, and Ni) nanocubes surrounded by (200)
Tongxin Song1, Fei Gao1, Yangping Zhang1
1College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China. shujinli@suda.edu.cn duyk@suda.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Due to the high-density (200) crystal planes and abundant active sites, cubic platinum nanomaterials have become outstanding electrocatalysts in promoting fuel cell reactions. However, because of the fact that the facet-controlled synthesis is difficult, it is still a grand challenge to synthesize a sequence of Pt-based nanocubes via a universal method. Herein, we report a general and simple eco-friendly solvothermal method to prepare (200)-enclosed PtM nanocubes. Different from the other nanomaterials, nanocubes are conducive to mass transfer. Moreover, the synergistic and electronic effects between M and Pt are profitable to improve the utilization of precious metals. We used (200)-encapsulated nanocrystals to evaluate their electrocatalytic performance towards glycerol and ethylene glycol oxidation reactions in an alkaline medium. In particular, Pt4Co nanocubes showed superior mass activities in glycerol and ethylene glycol oxidation reactions, which are 6.2- and 5.0-fold higher than those obtained for commercial Pt/C catalysts, respectively. Meanwhile, Pt4M catalysts manifested excellent stability in the endurance test, which is attributed to the alloying effect promoting the electrooxidation of intermediates. Our study provides an ideal method for the construction of Pt-based bimetallic nanocubes, which can be used for anode reactions of polyol fuel cells and beyond.
