In Search of Excellence: Convex versus Concave Noble Metal Nanostructures for Electrocatalytic Applications

Abstract

Controlling the shape of noble metal nanoparticles is a challenging but important task in electrocatalysis. Apart from hollow and nanocage structures, concave noble metal nanoparticles are considered a new class of unconventional electrocatalysts that exhibit superior electrocatalytic properties as compared with those of conventional nanoparticles (including convex and flat ones). Herein, several facile and highly reproducible routes for synthesizing nanostructured concave noble metal materials reported in the literature are discussed, together with their advantages over noble metal nanoparticles with convex shapes. In addition, possible ways of optimizing the synthesis procedure and enhancing the electrocatalytic characteristics of concave metal nanoparticles are suggested. Nanostructured noble metals with concave features are found to show better catalytic activity and stability hence improve their practical applicability in electrocatalysis.

Recent advances in noble metal MXene-based catalysts for electrocatalysis

“…The morphology and structure of nanoparticles, are essential factors affecting their electrocatalytic activity. 136,137 Given that the contact area between 0-dimensional noble metal nanoparticles and the carrier is small, they tend to aggregate during the electrocatalytic process. 138 Thus, due to this shortcoming, noble metal nanoparticles, such as nanowires, 139 nanotubes, 140,141 nanocubes, 142 nanorods, 143 and nanoclusters 66 with large interaction areas with high stability, and abundant active sites, have attracted extensive attention.…”

Direct conversion of solid g-C3N4 into metal-ended N-doped carbon nanotubes for rechargeable Zn–air batteries

“…8 Noble metal platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd) and their alloys exhibit superior ORR activity [9][10][11][12][13][14] and noble metal ruthenium (Ru) and iridium (Ir) oxides show excellent OER activities. 15,16 However, the natural attributes of high cost and scarcity of the noble metals extremely limit the future widespread application of these electrocatalysts.…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Hyper‐Branched Nanoparticles with Magnetic and Plasmonic Properties

“…[41] To date, gold nanoparticles have been synthesized in a variety of different shapes: nanospheres, [42,43] nanorods, [44,45] nanocubes, [46] nanotriangles, [47] nanostars [48] and other eccentric shapes. [49][50][51][52][53][54] Noteworthy, the plasmonic field localized on the spikes of branched particles is particularly strong [55,56] and this local amplification effect is often used for detection at very low analyte concentration, [27,57] or for increasing the photothermal activity [58] displayed by such nanoparticles.…”