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Updated: Dec 23, 2025

A Salt-Templated Synthesis Method for Porous Platinum-based Macrobeams and Macrotubes
Published on: May 18, 2020
Rapid one-step synthesis of carbon-supported platinum-copper nanoparticles with enhanced electrocatalytic activity
Pingping Song1, Yijie Lei1, Xiaobo Hu2
1Zhang Jiagang Joint Institute for Hydrogen Energy and Lithium-Ion Battery Technology, INET, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
The use of simple, fast, and inexpensive methods to synthesize nanocomposites is essential for large-scale production and applications. Microwave heating has been recognized as a promising method to attain higher reaction rates; this approach allows to complete new reactions in a short period of time. Therefore, carbon-supported platinum-copper nanoparticles (Pt-Cu NPs/C) were synthesized by microwave-assisted heating within few minutes. Detailed electrochemical studies showed that Pt-Cu NPs/C exhibited higher performance for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) than Pt/C. After 1000 sweeping cycles, the highest retention mass activity of EOR and MOR of Pt3Cu NPs/C showed that catalysts had good stability. In this study, a new approach for boosting the efficiency of industrial production of nanomaterial catalysts by rapid microwave heating was developed.

