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

Article Title
PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures made by post-synthesis modification of Pt-on-Au nanoparticles
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
Graphical Abstract
Publisher
Tsinghua University Press
Recommended Citation
Zhenmeng Peng,Hong Yang, PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures made by post-synthesis modification of Pt-on-Au nanoparticles. NanoRes.2009, 2: 406-415