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Facile synthesis of Pt–Ag octahedral and tetrahedral nanocrystals with enhanced activity and durability toward methanol oxidation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2018

Ming Zhao Open the ORCID record for Ming Zhao [Opens in a new window] ,
Xuan Yang ,
Zachary D. Hood ,
Miaofang Chi  and
Younan Xia
Ming Zhao
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
Xuan Yang
Affiliation:
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
Zachary D. Hood
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA; and Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
Miaofang Chi
Affiliation:
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
Younan Xia*
Affiliation:
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA; and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: younan.xia@bme.gatech.edu
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Abstract

Engineering the surface structure, together with the incorporation of a second metal, is an effective strategy for boosting the catalytic activities of Pt-based catalysts toward various reactions. Here, we report a facile approach to the synthesis of Pt–Ag octahedral and tetrahedral nanocrystals covered by concave surfaces. The presence of the Ag(I) precursor not only facilitated the reduction of the Pt(IV) precursor but also led to the formation of concaved facets on the Pt–Ag nanocrystals. Besides, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) was demonstrated to serve as a co-reductant, in addition to its role as a colloidal stabilizer. Using PVP with different molecular weights, we were able to tune the size of the Pt–Ag nanocrystals in the range of 9–25 and 14–32 nm for the octahedral and tetrahedral shapes, respectively. The Pt–Ag nanocrystals exhibited 4.6- and 2.0-fold enhancements in terms of specific and mass activities, respectively, toward methanol oxidation, when benchmarked against the commercial Pt/C catalyst. After 1000 cycles of the accelerated tests, the specific and mass activities of the Pt–Ag nanocrystals were still 3.6 and 1.6 times as high as those of the original commercial Pt/C.

Keywords

catalyticPtnanostructure
Type
Invited Feature Paper
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 33 , Issue 23 , 14 December 2018 , pp. 3891 - 3897
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

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Footnotes

This paper has been selected as an Invited Feature Paper.

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