In this report, a facile and general strategy was developed to synthesize original bamboo-shaped Te nanotubes (NTs) with well-controlled size and morphology. On the basis of the as-prepared Te NTs, porous Pt nanotubes (NTs) with excellent property and structural stability have been designed and manufactured. Importantly, we avoided the use of surface stabilizing agents, which may affect the catalytic properties during the templated synthesis process. Furthermore, Pt NTs with different morphology were successfully prepared by tuning the experimental parameters. As a result, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study shows that both Te NTs and Pt NTs have uniform size and morphology. Following cyclic voltammogram (CV) testing, the as-prepared porous Pt NTs and macroporous Pt NTs exhibited excellent catalytic activities toward electrochemical methanol oxidation reactions due to their tubiform structure with nanoporous framework. Thus, the as-prepared Pt NTs with specific porous structure hold potential usage as alternative anode catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs).
Keywords: bamboo-shaped; electrocatalysis; methanol oxidation; nanotubes; platinum; porous.