Skip to main content
Log in

Highly active zigzag-like Pt-Zn alloy nanowires with high-index facets for alcohol electrooxidation

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Nano Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Publisher's Erratum to this article was published on 05 July 2019

This article has been updated

Abstract

The development of highly efficient Pt-based alloy nanocatalysts is important but remains challenging for fuel cells commercialization. Here, a new class of zigzag-like platinum-zinc (Pt-Zn) alloy nanowires (NWs) with rough surface and controllable composition is reported. The merits of anisotropic one-dimensional nanostructure, stable high-index facets and coordinatively unsaturated Pt sites endow the composition-optimal Pt94Zn6 NWs with a mass activity of 7.2 and 6.2 times higher than that of commercial Pt black catalysts toward methanol/ethanol oxidation, respectively. Alloying-induced d-band electron modulation and lattice strain effects weaken the adsorption strength of poisoning species, which originally enhances the catalytic activity of Pt-Zn NWs. This study provides a new perspective of Pt-Zn electrocatalysts with intrinsic mechanism for enhanced catalytic performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 05 July 2019

    The article Highly active zigzag-like Pt-Zn alloy nanowires with high-index facets for alcohol electrooxidation, written by Xiaoqiang Cui and Weitao Zheng, was erroneously originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 6 April 2019 with incomplete Electronic Supplementary Material (ESM), which should contain 16 figures and 3 tables. You will find the complete supplementary material file online linked to this publisher’s erratum. The publisher apologizes to the authors and readers for this mistake.

References

  1. Debe, M. K. Electrocatalyst approaches and challenges for automotive fuel cells. Nature 2012, 486, 43–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Mistry, H.; Varela, A. S.; Kühl, S.; Strasser, P.; Cuenya, B. R. Nanostructured electrocatalysts with tunable activity and selectivity. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2016, 1, 16009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Liu, H. L.; Nosheen, F.; Wang, X. Noble metal alloy complex nanostructures: Controllable synthesis and their electrochemical property. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2015, 44, 3056–3078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hunt, S. T.; Milina, M.; Alba-Rubio, A. C.; Hendon, C. H.; Dumesic, J. A.; Román-Leshkov, Y. Self-assembly of noble metal monolayers on transition metal carbide nanoparticle catalysts. Science 2016, 352, 974–978.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chen, L.; Lu, L. L.; Zhu, H. L.; Chen, Y. G.; Huang, Y.; Li, Y. D.; Wang, L. Y. Improved ethanol electrooxidation performance by shortening Pd-Ni active site distance in Pd-Ni-P nanocatalysts. Nat. Commun. 2017, 8, 14136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Li, H. H.; Fu, Q. Q.; Xu, L.; Ma, S. Y.; Zheng, Y. R.; Liu, X. J.; Yu, S. H. Highly crystalline PtCu nanotubes with three dimensional molecular accessible and restructured surface for efficient catalysis. Energy Environ. Sci. 2017, 10, 1751–1756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Dai, S.; Huang, T. H.; Yan, X. X.; Yang, C. Y.; Chen, T. Y.; Wang, J. H.; Pan, X. Q.; Wang, K. W. Promotion of ternary Pt-Sn-Ag catalysts toward ethanol oxidation reaction: Revealing electronic and structural effects of additive metals. ACS Energy Lett. 2018, 3, 2550–2557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Song, P. P.; Cui, X. N.; Shao, Q.; Feng, Y. G.; Zhu, X.; Huang, X. Q. Networked Pt-Sn nanowires as efficient catalysts for alcohol electrooxidation. J. Mater. Chem. A 2017, 5, 24626–24630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chung, D. Y.; Yoo, J. M.; Sung, Y. E. Highly durable and active Pt-based nanoscale design for fuel-cell oxygen-reduction electrocatalysts. Adv. Mater. 2018, 30, 1704123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Huang, L.; Zhang, X. P.; Wang, Q. Q.; Han, Y. J.; Fang, Y. X.; Dong, S. J. Shape-control of Pt-Ru nanocrystals: Tuning surface structure for enhanced electrocatalytic methanol oxidation. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 1142–1147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Stamenkovic, V. R.; Fowler, B.; Mun, B. S.; Wang, G. F.; Ross, P. N.; Lucas, C. A.; Marković, N. M. Improved oxygen reduction activity on Pt3Ni(111) via increased surface site availability. Science 2007, 315, 493–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Escudero-Escribano, M.; Malacrida, P.; Hansen, M. H.; Vej-Hansen, U. G.; Velázquez-Palenzuela, A.; Tripkovic, V.; Schiøtz, J.; Rossmeisl, J.; Stephens, I. E. L.; Chorkendorff, I. Tuning the activity of Pt alloy electrocatalysts by means of the lanthanide contraction. Science 2016, 352, 73–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bu, L. Z.; Zhang, N.; Guo, S. J.; Zhang, X.; Li, J.; Yao, J. L.; Wu, T.; Lu, G.; Ma, J. Y.; Su, D. et al. Biaxially strained PtPb/Pt core/shell nanoplate boosts oxygen reduction catalysis. Science 2016, 354, 1410–1414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jiang, K. Z.; Zhao, D. D.; Guo, S. J.; Zhang, X.; Zhu, X.; Guo, J.; Lu, G.; Huang, X. Q. Efficient oxygen reduction catalysis by subnanometer Pt alloy nanowires. Sci. Adv. 2017, 3, e1601705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Mao, J. J.; Chen, W. X.; He, D. S.; Wan, J. W.; Pei, J. J.; Dong, J. C.; Wang, Y.; An, P. F.; Jin, Z.; Xing, W. et al. Design of ultrathin Pt-Mo-Ni nanowire catalysts for ethanol electrooxidation. Sci. Adv. 2017, 3, e1603068.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Pei, J. J.; Mao, J. J.; Liang, X.; Zhuang, Z. B.; Chen, C.; Peng, Q.; Wang, D. S.; Li, Y. D. Ultrathin Pt-Zn nanowires: High-performance catalysts for electrooxidation of methanol and formic acid. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2018, 6, 77–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Qi, Z. Y.; Xiao, C. X.; Liu, C.; Goh, T. W.; Zhou, L.; Maligal-Ganesh, R.; Pei, Y. C.; Li, X. L.; Curtiss, L. A.; Huang, W. Y. Sub-4 nm PtZn intermetallic nanoparticles for enhanced mass and specific activities in catalytic electrooxidation reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 4762–4768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wang, H. J.; Yu, H. J.; Yin, S. L.; Li, Y. H.; Xue, H. R.; Li, X. N.; Xu, Y.; Wang, L. One-step fabrication of bimetallic PtNi mesoporous nanospheres as an efficient catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. Nanoscale 2018, 10, 16087–16093.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Huang, H. W.; Li, K.; Chen, Z.; Luo, L. H.; Gu, Y. Q.; Zhang, D. Y.; Ma, C.; Si, R.; Yang, J. L.; Peng, Z. M. et al. Achieving remarkable activity and durability toward oxygen reduction reaction based on ultrathin Rh-doped Pt nanowires. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 8152–8159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Huang, X. Q.; Zhao, Z. P.; Cao, L.; Chen, Y.; Zhu, E. B.; Lin, Z. Y.; Li, M. F.; Yan, A. M.; Zettl, A.; Wang, Y. M. et al. High-performance transition metal-doped Pt3Ni octahedra for oxygen reduction reaction. Science 2015, 348, 1230–1234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Lu, S. Q.; Zhuang, Z. B. Investigating the influences of the adsorbed species on catalytic activity for hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline electrolyte. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 5156–5163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Xiao, W. P.; Cordeiro, M. A. L.; Gong, M. X.; Han, L. L.; Wang, J.; Bian, C.; Zhu, J.; Xin, H. L.; Wang, D. L. Optimizing the ORR activity of Pd based nanocatalysts by tuning their strain and particle size. J. Mater. Chem. A 2017, 5, 9867–9872.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Li, M. F.; Zhao, Z. P.; Cheng, T.; Fortunelli, A.; Chen, C. Y.; Yu, R.; Zhang, Q. H.; Gu, L.; Merinov, B. V.; Lin, Z. Y. et al. Ultrafine jagged platinum nanowires enable ultrahigh mass activity for the oxygen reduction reaction. Science 2016, 354, 1414–1419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Yin, H. J.; Zhao, S. L.; Zhao, K.; Muqsit, A.; Tang, H. J.; Chang, L.; Zhao, H. J.; Gao, Y.; Tang, Z. Y. Ultrathin platinum nanowires grown on single-layered nickel hydroxide with high hydrogen evolution activity. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 6430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Guo, S. J.; Zhang, S.; Su, D.; Sun, S. H. Seed-mediated synthesis of core/shell FePtM/FePt (M = Pd, Au) nanowires and their electrocatalysis for oxygen reduction reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 13879–13884.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Luo, M. C.; Sun, Y. J.; Zhang, X.; Qin, Y. N.; Li, M. Q.; Li, Y. J.; Li, C. J.; Yang, Y.; Wang, L.; Gao, P. et al. Stable high-index faceted Pt skin on zigzag-like PtFe nanowires enhances oxygen reduction catalysis. Adv. Mater. 2018, 30, 1705515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Bu, L. Z.; Guo, S. J.; Zhang, X.; Shen, X.; Su, D.; Lu, G.; Zhu, X.; Yao, J. L.; Guo, J.; Huang, X. Q. Surface engineering of hierarchical platinum-cobalt nanowires for efficient electrocatalysis. Nat. Commun. 2016, 7, 11850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Zhao, S. L.; Wang, Y.; Dong, J. C.; He, C. T.; Yin, H. J.; An, P. F.; Zhao, K.; Zhang, X. F.; Gao, C.; Zhang, L. J. et al. Ultrathin metal-organic framework nanosheets for electrocatalytic oxygen evolution. Nat. Energy 2016, 1, 16184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Zhang, N.; Feng, Y. G.; Zhu, X.; Guo, S. J.; Guo, J.; Huang, X. Q. Superior bifunctional liquid fuel oxidation and oxygen reduction electrocatalysis enabled by PtNiPd core-shell nanowires. Adv. Mater. 2017, 29, 1603774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Xu, X. L.; Zhang, X.; Sun, H.; Yang, Y.; Dai, X. P.; Gao, J. S.; Li, X. Y.; Zhang, P. F.; Wang, H. H.; Yu, N. F. et al. Synthesis of Pt-Ni alloy nanocrystals with high-index facets and enhanced electrocatalytic properties. Angew. Chem. 2014, 126, 12730–12735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhang, N.; Bu, L. Z.; Guo, S. J.; Guo, J.; Huang, X. Q. Screw thread-like platinum-copper nanowires bounded with high-index facets for efficient electrocatalysis. Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 5037–5043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Tian, N.; Zhou, Z. Y.; Sun, S. G.; Ding, Y.; Wang, Z. L. Synthesis of tetrahexahedral platinum nanocrystals with high-index facets and high electro-oxidation activity. Science 2007, 316, 732–735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Xue, L. F.; Li, Y. C.; Liu, X. F.; Liu, Q. T.; Shang, J. X.; Duan, H. P.; Dai, L. M.; Shui, J. L. Zigzag carbon as efficient and stable oxygen reduction electrocatalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 3819.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Chen, Q. L.; Zhang, J. W.; Jia, Y. Y.; Jiang, Z. Y.; Xie, Z. X.; Zheng, L. S. Wet chemical synthesis of intermetallic Pt3Zn nanocrystals via weak reduction reaction together with UPD process and their excellent electrocatalytic performances. Nanoscale 2014, 6, 7019–7024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Zhang, L.; Choi, S. I.; Tao, J.; Peng, H. C.; Xie, S. F.; Zhu, Y. M.; Xie, Z. X.; Xia, Y. N. Pd-Cu bimetallic tripods: A mechanistic understanding of the synthesis and their enhanced electrocatalytic activity for formic acid oxidation. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2014, 24, 7520–7529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Day, R. W.; Mankin, M. N.; Gao, R. X.; No, Y. S.; Kim, S. K.; Bell, D. C.; Park, H. G.; Lieber, C. M. Plateau-Rayleigh crystal growth of periodic shells on one-dimensional substrates. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2015, 10, 345–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Li, C. Z.; Yuan, Q.; Ni, B.; He, T.; Zhang, S. M.; Long, Y.; Gu, L.; Wang, X. Dendritic defect-rich palladium-copper-cobalt nanoalloys as robust multifunctional non-platinum electrocatalysts for fuel cells. Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 3702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Stamenkovic, V. R.; Mun, B. S.; Arenz, M.; Mayrhofer, K. J. J.; Lucas, C. A.; Wang, G. F.; Ross, P. N.; Markovic, N. M. Trends in electrocatalysis on extended and nanoscale Pt-bimetallic alloy surfaces. Nat. Mater. 2007, 6, 241–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Wu, Y. S.; Liu, X. J.; Han, D. D.; Song, X. Y.; Shi, L.; Song, Y.; Niu, S. W.; Xie, Y. F.; Cai, J. Y.; Wu, S. Y. et al. Electron density modulation of NiCo2S4 nanowires by nitrogen incorporation for highly efficient hydrogen evolution catalysis. Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 1425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Abe, H.; Yoshikawa, H.; Umezawa, N.; Xu, Y.; Saravanan, G.; Ramesh, G. V.; Tanabe, T.; Kodiyath, R.; Ueda, S.; Sekido, N. et al. Correlation between the surface electronic structure and CO-oxidation activity of Pt alloys. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2015, 17, 4879–4887.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Feng, J. R.; Lv, F.; Zhang, W. Y.; Li, P. H.; Wang, K.; Yang, C.; Wang, B.; Yang, Y.; Zhou, J. H.; Lin, F. et al. Iridium-based multimetallic porous hollow nanocrystals for efficient overall-water-splitting catalysis. Adv. Mater. 2017, 29, 1703798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Huang, H. W.; Jia, H. H.; Liu, Z.; Gao, P. F.; Zhao, J. T.; Luo, Z. L.; Yang, J. L.; Zeng, J. Understanding of strain effects in the electrochemical reduction of CO2: Using Pd nanostructures as an ideal platform. Angew. Chem. 2017, 129, 3648–3652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Li, J. R.; Xi, Z.; Pan, Y. T.; Spendelow, J. S.; Duchesne, P. N.; Su, D.; Li, Q.; Yu, C.; Yin, Z. Y.; Shen, B. et al. Fe stabilization by intermetallic L10-FePt and Pt catalysis enhancement in L10-FePt/Pt nanoparticles for efficient oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 2926–2932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Duchesne, P. N.; Chen, G. X.; Zheng, N. F.; Zhang, P. Local structure, electronic behavior, and electrocatalytic reactivity of CO-reduced platinum-iron oxide nanoparticles. J. Phys. Chem. C 2013, 117, 26324–26333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Jackson, C.; Smith, G. T.; Inwood, D. W.; Leach, A. S.; Whalley, P. S.; Callisti, M.; Polcar, T.; Russell, A. E.; Levecque, P.; Kramer, D. Electronic metal-support interaction enhanced oxygen reduction activity and stability of boron carbide supported platinum. Nat. Commun. 2017, 8, 15802.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Cybulskis, V. J.; Bukowski, B. C.; Tseng, H. T.; Gallagher, J. R.; Wu, Z. W.; Wegener, E.; Kropf, A. J.; Ravel, B.; Ribeiro, F. H.; Greeley, J. et al. Zinc promotion of platinum for catalytic light alkane dehydrogenation: Insights into geometric and electronic effects. ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 4173–4181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Strasser, P.; Koh, S.; Anniyev, T.; Greeley, J.; More, K.; Yu, C. F.; Liu, Z. C.; Kaya, S.; Nordlund, D.; Ogasawara, H. et al. Lattice-strain control of the activity in dealloyed core-shell fuel cell catalysts. Nat. Chem. 2010, 2, 454–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFA0200400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51571100, 51602305, 51522212, 51421002, and 51672307), Program for JLU Science and Technology Innovative Research Team (JLUSTIRT, 2017TD-09), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Graduate Innovation Fund of Jilin University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaoqiang Cui or Weitao Zheng.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xu, Y., Cui, X., Wei, S. et al. Highly active zigzag-like Pt-Zn alloy nanowires with high-index facets for alcohol electrooxidation. Nano Res. 12, 1173–1179 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2374-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2374-z

Keywords

Navigation