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Updated: May 26, 2025

Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Highly Strained Interfaces and Phase Separation for Boosting Electrochemical Methanol Oxidation and Hydrogen
Zhen He1,2, Runtian Wang3, Chengming Wang4
1Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, China.
Abstract:
Constructing multimetallic alloy heterostructures with the desired interface and phase separation is a promising method to optimize the electrochemical properties of noble metal nanomaterials. Nevertheless, tailoring the elemental distribution and lattice structures of such multimetallic nanomaterials still poses major difficulties. In this study, Cu-PtNi nanowires coupling PtNi with PtNiCu active sites are fabricated by seeded synthesis on a Cu template. Owing to the oxophilic nature of PtNi sites and the anti-CO poisoning capability of PtNiCu facets, the as-synthesized Cu-PtNi nanowires exhibit enhanced methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) performance (7.73 A mgPt-1), outperforming those of PtNiCu alloy, PtNi alloy, and commercial Pt/C catalysts. Theoretical calculations in conjunction with operando infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy demonstrate that the lattice-compressed Pt3Ni (111)-Pt3NiCu (100) interface stands out as a highly efficient active site, which promotes OH intermediate adsorption and simultaneously weakens CO intermediate adsorption during the MOR. In addition, at 10 mA cm-2, Cu-PtNi nanowires also exhibit an impressively reduced overpotential of 35.2 mV for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under alkaline conditions. This work offers a strategy to boost the electrocatalytic performance of multimetallic nanomaterials.
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