Enhancing by Weakening: Electrooxidation of Methanol on Pt₃Co and Pt Nanocubes

Abstract

Loaded dice: High‐quality and similarly sized Pt3Co and Pt nanocubes were prepared by gradually reducing metal precursors at high temperatures. Cyclic voltammetric and chronoamperometric results show a much higher methanol oxidation current density on Pt3Co nanocubes (see picture). The enhanced catalytic activity was explained by the slower and weaker adsorption of CO onto Pt3Co.

Shape-controlled synthesis of Pt-Ir nanocubes with preferential (100) orientation and their unusual enhanced electrocatalytic activities

“…This agrees well with that observed by XRD (Fig. 6) and similar results have been reported for other Pt alloy NPs such as Pt-Co, Pt-Ni and Pt- Fe [28,31,54]. A SAED pattern of the Pt nanocubes shows the strong (200) diffraction ring and weak (111) diffraction ring (Fig.…”

“…Xu et al [16] have also reported that PtCu nanocubes show a superior electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation compared with spherical PtCu nanocubes and Pt nanocubes. Similar results have been observed on Pt 3 Co nanocubes [28] and Pt 3 Fe nanocubes [31] for electro-oxidation of methanol and formic acid respectively. Kang et al [20] reported that the PtMn nanocubes showed better electrocatalytic activities for a series of reactions (including oxygen reduction, formic acid oxidation, and methanol oxidation) than their spherical counterparts.…”

“…The observed distance between adjacent lattice fringes is 1.93 Å, which is very close to the lattice spacing of the Ir-Pt alloy (200) plane (refer to JCPDS 88-1728). This not only indicates that the resulting Pt-Ir nanocubes are perfectly enclosed by the (200) planes, but also indirectly supports the formation of Pt-Ir alloy NPs [28,54]. Fig.…”

“…5). Previous studies from several groups [28,31,54,55] demonstrate the key role of W(CO) 6 in the shape control formation of Pt-based bimetallic NPs. For example, Choi et al [55] and Zhang et al [56] demonstrated the key role of W(CO) 6 in the formation of Pt-Ni and Pt-Cu octahedra enclosed with (111) facets, while Zhang et al [54] found that the presence of W(CO) 6 favors the formation of Pt-Fe, Pe-Co nanocubes.…”

“…Shape-controlled synthesis of Pt nanocubes, which are enclosed by (100) surfaces, has therefore received great attention as high-performance electrocatalysts [16,25,26]. More excitingly, incorporation of other metals into the Pt NPs to form bimetallic Pt NPs has been proved to be a promising method for further enhancing the catalytic properties due to the bifunctional mechanism [27] and the electronic effect [28,29]. For instance, Xu et al [30] demonstrated that Pt 80 Cu 20 nanocube catalyst was about ten times more durable than its Pt nanocube counterpart for formic acid oxidation.…”