Synthesis of hierarchical platinum-palladium-copper nanodendrites for efficient methanol oxidation

• Published in: Applied catalysis. B, Environmental Vol. 211; pp. 205 - 211
• Main Authors: Chang, Rong, Zheng, Lijun, Wang, Chengwen, Yang, Dachi, Zhang, Gaixia, Sun, Shuhui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.08.2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aluminum; Catalysis; Chemical synthesis; Commercialization; Copper; Defects; Dopants; Electrocatalysts; Fuel cell; Fuel cells; Fuel technology; Methanol; Methanol oxidation reaction (MOR); Nanodendrites; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Nanowires; Oxidation; Palladium; Platinum; Stability; Wet-chemistry; Methanol oxidation reaction (MOR); Nanowires; Nanodendrites; Wet-chemistry; Fuel cell
• ISSN: 0926-3373; 1873-3883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2017.04.040

[Display omitted] •Facile and controllable fabrication: electrodeposition and wet-chemical transformation.•Systematic growth mechanism study of PtPdCu nanodendrites.•New types of active sites: “Tips and Cracks” and Pd dopants.•More efficient activity than that of commercial Pt/C catalyst.•More stable and better CO tolerance than those of commercial Pt/C catalyst. Tuning the architecture and composition of platinum (Pt)-based nanostructures for enhancing the electrocatalytic activity and stability towards methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is pivotal for the commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), but still remains great challenge. Here, hierarchical platinum-palladium-copper (PtPdCu) nanodendrites (NDs) with tip-cracked defects have been developed with tailored morphology and dopants. We firstly electrodeposited PtPdCu nanowires (NWs) inside the channels of aluminum anodic oxide (AAO) template, and then wet-chemically transformed the as-synthesized NWs into NDs. Benefiting from the synergetic effect between the tip-cracked defects and dopants, firstly, the MOR mass activity and specific activity of PtPdCu NDs are ∼1.78 times and ∼2.14 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C, respectively; secondly, after 2000s stability test, the electrocatalytic activity of PtPdCu NDs is ∼5.02 times higher than commercial Pt/C; finally, the PtPdCu NDs also show better CO tolerance as well. Our PtPdCu NDs are promising anode electrocatalysts in next-generation DMFCs.