Dictating catalytic performance of platinum-iron nanoparticle by regulating its heterogeneous interface and stability

Innovative design of nanocatalyst with high activity remains to be great challenge. Platinum (Pt) nanoparticle has already demonstrated to be excellent candidates in the field of catalysis. However, the scarcity and high price significantly hinder its large-scale production. In this work, dumbbell-like alloying nanoparticle of platinum-iron/ferroferric oxide (PtFeFe₃O₄) was prepared. On one hand, the design of the alloying nanoparticle can manipulate the d-band center of Pt, in further, the interaction with substrates. In addition, the dumbbell-like structured PtFeFe₃O₄ can offer heterogeneous interface, of which the interaction between PtFe and Fe₃O₄, supported by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) results, leads to the enhanced catalytic efficiency. On the other hand, the introduction of Fe (iron) composition largely decreases the necessary amount of Pt, leading to efficient cost reduction. Moreover, to avoid the aggregation related activity attenuation problem, PtFeFe₃O₄ nanoparticle located in cavity of nitrogen heteroatom-doped carbon shell (PtFeFe₃O₄@NC) as yolk@shell nanostructure was constructed and its improved catalytic performance was demonstrated towards the reactions of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction, β-ionone and benzhydrol oxidation.