Low Pt-Content Ternary PtNiCu Nanoparticles with Hollow Interiors and Accessible Surfaces as Enhanced Multifunctional Electrocatalysts

Abstract

Developing highly active and durable electrocatalysts with low levels of Pt content toward some crucial reactions including oxygen reduction reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, and methanol oxidation reaction in an acidic electrolyte environment are desirable but still an open challenge for clean and efficient energy conversion. Herein, we present a facile route to synthesize low Pt-content ternary PtNiCu nanostructures with hollow interior and accessible surfaces (H-PtNiCu-AAT NPs) as enhanced multifunctional electrocatalysts. The galvanic replacement reaction and atomic diffusion between in situ preformed CuNi nanocrystals and Pt species should be responsible for the formation of hollow PtNiCu NPs. Continuous activation by acid picking and annealing treatments were performed to leach out the excessive Cu and Ni on the surfaces and to enrich Pt-content on the surface. H-PtNiCu-AAT NPs exhibit excellent activity and durability toward HER, ORR, and MOR due to the rational integration of multiple structural advantages. Strikingly, the mass activity and specific activity of H-PtNiCu-AAT NPs (0.977 A mgPt –1 and 1.458 mA cm–2) is 7.1 and 6.9 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.138 A mgPt –1 and 0.212 mA cm–2) toward ORR at 0.9 V (vs RHE), respectively. This present work provides an efficient strategy for the design of low Pt-content trimetallic electrocatalysts with excellent activity and durability.

Enhanced Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor for Simultaneous Catechol and Hydroquinone Detection by Using Ultrasmall Ternary Pt‐based Nanomaterial

“…EDX analysis was conducted and mentioned in Figure SI 2(b). All three elements (Pt, Ni, and Cu) were found, proposing the successful ternary metal alloy formation as described in literature [24]. Quantitative EDX measurements showed that the average nanomaterial compositional size was about Pt 56 Ni 22 Cu 22 .…”

“…The pure Pt has low binding energy as comparied to Pt 4f of PtNiCu nanomaterial. The electrochemical performance of PtNiCu catalyst was improved due to the change in binding energy cause by the shift of the d‐band center relative to Fermi level, as mentioned previously in litrature [24, 27, 28]. The XPS spectra of PtNi nanomaterial was also analyzed by similar manner and mention in Figure SI 3 having complete spectra of PtNi, with magnified Pt 4 f and Ni 2p spectrum.…”

Atomic‐Scale Interface Engineering: Boosting Oxygen Electroreduction over Supported Ternary Alloys Fabricated by Carbon‐Assisted Galvanic Replacement

“…[2] However, the low specific activity and poor long-term durability of platinum have not yet reached the requirements for commercial application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells and metal-air batteries. [3] Alloying of Pt with other transition metals is a smart strategy to remarkably enhance the catalytic performances, raised by electronic ligand and ensemble So, it is also very suitable for preparing alloys in a large scale and controlling morphologies of alloys, such as PtRuCu nanoboxes, [13] hollow PtNiCu nanoparticles, [14] and PtPdRuTe nanotubes. [15] Chen and co-workers [13] fabricated hollow and porous PtRuCu cubic structures through galvanic replacement with Cu 2 O nanocubes as templates and K 2 PtCl 4 together with RuCl 3 as metal sources.…”

“…This special morphology effectively improves atom utilization and electron transfer, giving it excellent electrocatalytic performance. The Lin group [14] presented a facile route to synthesize low-Pt-content ternary PtNiCu nanostructures with hollow interior and accessible surfaces. Zhou and co-workers [16] synthesized the CoAuPd alloy with metallic Co as a self-sacrifice template by galvanic replacement.…”

“…Compared with the other fabrication strategies for supported alloy catalysts like the wet chemistry method and chemical vapor deposition, [ 12 ] the galvanic replacement reaction has the advantages of simplicity, low pollution, and strong operability. So, it is also very suitable for preparing alloys in a large scale and controlling morphologies of alloys, such as PtRuCu nanoboxes, [ 13 ] hollow PtNiCu nanoparticles, [ 14 ] and PtPdRuTe nanotubes. [ 15 ] Chen and co‐workers [ 13 ] fabricated hollow and porous PtRuCu cubic structures through galvanic replacement with Cu 2 O nanocubes as templates and K 2 PtCl 4 together with RuCl 3 as metal sources.…”