Article Title

Facile design of Au@Pt core-shell nanostructures: Formation of Pt submonolayers with tunable coverage and their applications in electrocatalysis

Authors

Fulin Zheng, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China
Wing-Tak Wong, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China
Ka-Fu Yung, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong SAR, China

Keywords

electrocatalysis, platinum, submonolayer, fuel cell

Abstract

ABSTRACT A facile design of Pt nanostructures from submonolayer to monolayer has been realized by ion adsorption–in situ electrochemical reduction on Au nanoparticles supported on multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The as prepared Au@Pt/CNTs catalysts display coverage-specific electrocatalysis. Au@Pt/CNTs with low Pt coverage is inactive towards methanol oxidation whereas it oxidizes formic acid effectively through a direct pathway with mass specific activity 90 times that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Due to its inertness to methanol, it shows high performance in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with high methanol tolerance. In contrast, simply increasing the Pt coverage to above 40% switches the formic acid oxidation process to both direct and indirect catalytic pathways, and also results in high methanol oxidation activity.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0407-1

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Fulin Zheng,Wing-Tak Wong,Ka-Fu Yung, Facile design of Au@Pt core-shell nanostructures: Formation of Pt submonolayers with tunable coverage and their applications in electrocatalysis. NanoRes.2014, 7(3): 410–417