"PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures made by post-synthesis modificati" by Zhenmeng Peng and Hong Yang

Home > NANO-RESEARCH > Vol. 2 (2009) > No. 5

Article Title

PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures made by post-synthesis modification of Pt-on-Au nanoparticles

Authors

Zhenmeng Peng, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester, Gavett Hall 206, Rochester, NY 14627, USA
Hong Yang, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rochester, Gavett Hall 206, Rochester, NY 14627, USA

Keywords

Nanostructure, alloy, platinum, gold, formic acid oxidation, electrocatalyst, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

Abstract

Bimetallic PtAu heteronanostructures have been synthesized from Pt-on-Au nanoparticles, which were made from platinum acetylacetonate and gold nanoparticles. Using the Pt-on-Au nanoparticles as precursors, Pt- surface rich PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures can be produced through controlled thermal treatments, as confirmed by field emission high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and elemental mapping using a high-angle annular dark-ﬁ eld scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM). Oxidation of formic acid was used as a model reaction to demonstrate the effects of varying composition and surface structure on the catalytic performance of PtAu bimetallic nanostructures. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed that these carbon-supported PtAu heteronanostructures were much more active than platinum in catalyzing the oxidation of formic acid, judging by the mass current density. The results showed that post- synthesis modification can be a very useful approach to the control of composition distributions in alloy