Zhiping Xiong

Self-supported porous 2D AuCu triangular nanoprisms as model electrocatalysts for ethylene glycol and glycerol oxidation

Shape-controlled synthesis of self-supported metallic nanocrystals with abundant active surface areas is of vital importance for the design and fabrication of novel outstandingly excellent electrocatalysts. Motivated by this, we herein report our research in the synthesis of self-supported porous 2D AuCu triangular nanoprisms via a facile wet-chemical method. Owing to the attractive 2D triangular structure, bifunctional and electronic effects between Au and Cu, such unique Au1Cu1 nanoprisms exhibited extremely high catalytic activities towards ethylene glycol and glycerol electrooxidation with mass activities of 2873 and 2263 mA mgAu−1, which are 3.0 and 3.9-fold enhancements over those of pure Au (958 and 573 mA mgAu−1), respectively. We trust this strategy may be extended to the syntheses of other multimetallic nanocatalysts with such fascinating nanostructures and the as-obtained porous triangular nanoprisms can be well applied to serve as highly desirable anode catalysts for electrooxidation of ethylene glycol and glycerol.

Rapid synthesis of platinum-ruthenium bimetallic nanoparticles dispersed on carbon support as improved electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation

Bimetallic nanocatalysts with small particle size benefit from markedly enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability during small molecule oxidation. Herein, we report a facile method to synthesize binary Pt-Ru nanoparticles dispersed on a carbon support at an optimum temperature. Because of its monodispersed nanostructure, synergistic effects were observed between Pt and Ru and the PtRu/C electrocatalysts showed remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards ethanol oxidation. The peak current density of the Pt1Ru1/C electrocatalyst is 3731 mA mg-1, which is 9.3 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (401 mA mg-1). Furthermore, the synthesized Pt1Ru1/C catalyst exhibited higher stability during ethanol oxidation in an alkaline medium and maintained a significantly higher current density after successive cyclic voltammograms (CVs) of 500 cycles than commercial Pt/C. Our work highlights the significance of the reaction temperature during electrocatalyst synthesis, leading to enhanced catalytic performance towards ethanol oxidation. The Pt1Ru1/C electrocatalyst has great potential for application in direct ethanol fuel cells.