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One-pot synthesis of Au@Pt star-like nanocrystals and their enhanced electrocatalytic performance for formic acid and ethanol oxidation

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Abstract

The current bottleneck facing further developments in fuel cells is the lack of durable electrocatalysts with satisfactory activity. In this study, a simple and fast one-pot wet-chemical method is proposed to synthesize novel Au@Pt star-like bimetallic nanocrystals (Au@Pt SLNCs) with a low Pt/Au ratio of 1:4, which show great electrocatalytic properties and outstanding stability toward the electro-oxidation reactions commonly found in fuel cells. The star-like Au core (90 ± 20 nm) is partially coated with 5 nm Pt nanocluster shells, a morphology which creates a large amount of boundaries and edges, thus tuning the surface electronic structure as demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and CO-stripping measurements. This promotes excellent electrocatalytic performance towards the formic acid oxidation reaction in acidic media and the ethanol oxidation reaction in alkaline media, compared to commercial Pt or Au@Pt triangular nanoprisms, in which the Au core is fully coated by a Pt shell. Au@Pt SLNCs have the highest current density within the dehydrogenation potential range, needing the least potential to achieve a certain current density as well as the highest long-term stability. Because of the small amount of Pt usage, very fast synthesis, excellent electrocatalytic activity and durability, the proposed Au@Pt SLNCs have a promising practical application in fuel cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21273001) and the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB931802).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Yi Peng, Lidong Li, Ran Tao, Lingyu Tan, Mengna Qiu & Lin Guo

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California, 95064, USA

    Yi Peng

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  1. Yi Peng
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  2. Lidong Li
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  3. Ran Tao
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Correspondence to Lidong Li or Lin Guo.

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One-pot synthesis of Au@Pt star-like nanocrystals and their enhanced electrocatalytic performance for formic acid and ethanol oxidation

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Peng, Y., Li, L., Tao, R. et al. One-pot synthesis of Au@Pt star-like nanocrystals and their enhanced electrocatalytic performance for formic acid and ethanol oxidation. Nano Res. 11, 3222–3232 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1851-5

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