Multimetallic Hierarchical Aerogels: Shape Engineering of the Building Blocks for Efficient Electrocatalysis

Bin Cai; Arezoo Dianat; René Hübner; Wei Liu; Dan Wen; Albrecht Benad; Luisa Sonntag; Thomas Gemming; Gianaurelio Cuniberti; Alexander Eychmüller

doi:10.1002/adma.201605254

Multimetallic Hierarchical Aerogels: Shape Engineering of the Building Blocks for Efficient Electrocatalysis

Adv Mater. 2017 Mar;29(11). doi: 10.1002/adma.201605254. Epub 2017 Jan 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Physikalische Chemie, Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Bergstraße 66b, 01062, Dresden, Germany.
² Institute for Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Hallwachsstraße 3, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
³ Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstraße 400, 01328, Dresden, Germany.
⁴ Institute for Complex Materials, IFW Dresden, D-01171, Dresden, Germany.

PMID: 28060420
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201605254

Abstract

A new class of multimetallic hierarchical aerogels composed entirely of interconnected Ni-Pd_x Pt_y nano-building-blocks with in situ engineered morphologies and compositions is demonstrated. The underlying mechanism of the galvanic shape-engineering is elucidated in terms of nanowelding of intermediate nanoparticles. The hierarchical aerogels integrate two levels of porous structures, leading to improved electrocatalysis performance.

Keywords: aerogels; electrocatalysts; ethanol oxidation; hierarchical structures; sol-gel processes.