Compressive surface strains have been necessary to boost oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity in core/shell M/platinum (Pt) catalysts (where M can be nickel, cobalt, or iron). We report on a class of platinum-lead/platinum (PtPb/Pt) core/shell nanoplate catalysts that exhibit large biaxial strains. The stable Pt (110) facets of the nanoplates have high ORR specific and mass activities that reach 7.8 milliampere (mA) per centimeter squared and 4.3 ampere per milligram of platinum at 0.9 volts versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), respectively. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the edge-Pt and top (bottom)-Pt (110) facets undergo large tensile strains that help optimize the Pt-O bond strength. The intermetallic core and uniform four layers of Pt shell of the PtPb/Pt nanoplates appear to underlie the high endurance of these catalysts, which can undergo 50,000 voltage cycles with negligible activity decay and no apparent structure and composition changes.

Comprising abundant interfaces, multicomponent heterostructures can integrate distinct building blocks into single entities and yield exceptional functionalities enabled by the synergistic components. Here we report an efficient approach to construct one-dimensional metal/sulfide heterostructures by directly sulfuring highly composition-segregated platinum-nickel nanowires. The heterostructures possess a high density of interfaces between platinum-nickel and nickel sulfide components, which cooperate synergistically towards alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. The platinum-nickel/nickel sulfide heterostructures can deliver a current density of 37.2 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 70 mV, which is 9.7 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C. The heterostructures also offer enhanced stability revealed by long-term chronopotentiometry measurements. The present work highlights a potentially powerful interface-engineering strategy for designing multicomponent heterostructures with advanced performance in hydrogen evolution reaction and beyond.

Despite intense research in past decades, the lack of high-performance catalysts for fuel cell reactions remains a challenge in realizing fuel cell technologies for transportation applications. Here we report a facile strategy for synthesizing hierarchical platinum-cobalt nanowires with high-index, platinum-rich facets and ordered intermetallic structure. These structural features enable unprecedented performance for the oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation reactions. The specific/mass activities of the platinum-cobalt nanowires for oxygen reduction reaction are 39.6/33.7 times higher than commercial Pt/C catalyst, respectively. Density functional theory simulations reveal that the active threefold hollow sites on the platinum-rich high-index facets provide an additional factor in enhancing oxygen reduction reaction activities. The nanowires are stable in the electrochemical conditions and also thermally stable. This work may represent a key step towards scalable production of high-performance platinum-based nanowires for applications in catalysis and energy conversion.

Layered core-shell bimetallic silver-gold nanoparticles were prepared by coating Au layers over Ag seeds by a seed-growth method. The composition of Ag100-xAux particles can vary from x=0 to 30. TEM and SEM images clearly show that the bimetallic nanoparticles are of core-shell structure with some pinholes on the surface. Strong surface-enhanced Raman (SER) signals of thiophenol and p-aminothiophenol have been obtained with these colloids. It was found that the SERS activity of aggregated colloids critically depends on the molar ratio of Ag to Au. With the increase of the Au molar fraction, the SERS activity enhances first and then weakens, with the maximal intensity being 10 times stronger than that of Ag colloids. The AgcoreAushell nanoparticles were then labeled with monoclonal antibodies and SERS probes and used for immunoassay analysis. In the proposed system, antibodies immobilized on a solid substrate can interact with the corresponding antigens to form a composite substrate, which can capture reporter-labeled AgcoreAushell nanoparticles modified with the same antibodies. The immunoreaction between the antibodies and antigens was demonstrated by the detection of characteristic Raman bands of the probe molecules. AgcoreAushell bimetallic nanoparticles, as a new SERS active and biocompatible substrate, will be expected to improve the detection sensitivity of immunoassay.

The design of high-performance electrocatalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desirable for the development of alkaline water electrolysis. Phase- and interface-engineered platinum-nickel nanowires (Pt-Ni NWs) are highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline HER. The phase and interface engineering is achieved by simply annealing the pristine Pt-Ni NWs under a controlled atmosphere. Impressively, the newly generated nanomaterials exhibit superior activity for the alkaline HER, outperforming the pristine Pt-Ni NWs and commercial Pt/C, and also represent the best alkaline HER catalysts to date. The enhanced HER activities are attributed to the superior phase and interface structures in the engineered Pt-Ni NWs.