Synthesis and Characterization of 9 nm Pt–Ni Octahedra with a Record High Activity of 3.3 A/mgPt for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Nanoscale Pt–Ni bimetallic octahedra with controlled sizes have been actively explored in recent years owning to their outstanding activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Here we report the synthesis of uniform 9 nm Pt–Ni octahedra with the use of oleylamine and oleic acid as surfactants a...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nano letters 2013-07, Vol.13 (7), p.3420-3425
Main Authors:	Choi, Sang-Il, Xie, Shuifen, Shao, Minhua, Odell, Jonathan H, Lu, Ning, Peng, Hsin-Chieh, Protsailo, Lesia, Guerrero, Sandra, Park, Jinho, Xia, Xiaohu, Wang, Jinguo, Kim, Moon J, Xia, Younan
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Catalytic methods Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science rheology Exact sciences and technology Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties Materials science Methods of nanofabrication Physics Surfaces and interfaces thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Nanoscale Pt–Ni bimetallic octahedra with controlled sizes have been actively explored in recent years owning to their outstanding activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Here we report the synthesis of uniform 9 nm Pt–Ni octahedra with the use of oleylamine and oleic acid as surfactants and W(CO)6 as a source of CO that can promote the formation of {111} facets in the presence of Ni. Through the introduction of benzyl ether as a solvent, the coverage of both surfactants on the surface of resultant Pt–Ni octahedra was significantly reduced while the octahedral shape was still attained. By further removing the surfactants through acetic acid treatment, we observed a specific activity 51-fold higher than that of the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst for the ORR at 0.93 V, together with a record high mass activity of 3.3 A mgPt –1 at 0.9 V (the highest mass activity reported in the literature was 1.45 A mgPt –1). Our analysis suggests that this great enhancement of ORR activity could be attributed to the presence of a clean, well-preserved (111) surface for the Pt–Ni octahedra.
ISSN:	1530-6984 1530-6992