Monodisperse and self-assembled Pt-Cu nanoparticles as an efficient electrocatalyst for the methanol oxidation reaction. Issue 5 (15th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Du, Xuewei; Luo, Shuiping; Du, Hongyu; Tang, Min; Huang, Xiangdong; Shen, Pei Kang
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 4:Issue 5(2016)
• Page Start: 1579
• Page End: 1585
• Publication Date: 2016-01-15
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c5ta09261b
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : Monodisperse PtCu nanoparticles have been synthesized and can be self-assembled via adding oleylamine (OAM), and they show higher activity, stability and better CO tolerance compared with Pt/C toward the methanol oxidation reaction. Abstract : Monodisperse alloyed PtCu nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. In addition, this is the first time to obtain self-assembled NPs as a hexagonal array with six-fold symmetry in the PtCu NP system. In our synthesis, oleylamine (OAM) is essential for the self-assembly of uniform PtCu NPs. These PtCu spheres have a diameter of 4.78 ± 0.28 nm with a Pt-rich skin and are evaluated as a catalyst for the methanol oxidation reaction. The activity of the PtCu nanoparticles is 34.81 mA cm −2, while that of the PtCu/C catalysts is 24.6 mA cm −2, which is about 6.216 times and 4.4 times higher than that of the Pt/C catalyst (5.6 mA cm −2 ). Our studies provide a simple approach to synthesize monodisperse PtCu NPs with Pt-rich skin, making it possible to develop highly active catalysts for methanol oxidation.