Engineering 3D hierarchical thorn-like PtPdNiCu alloyed nanotripods with enhanced performances for methanol and ethanol electrooxidation

Yi-Ge Feng; Hua-Jie Niu; Li-Ping Mei; Jiu-Ju Feng; Ke-Ming Fang; Ai-Jun Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.120

Engineering 3D hierarchical thorn-like PtPdNiCu alloyed nanotripods with enhanced performances for methanol and ethanol electrooxidation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Sep 1:575:425-432. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.120. Epub 2020 Apr 30.

Authors

Yi-Ge Feng¹, Hua-Jie Niu¹, Li-Ping Mei¹, Jiu-Ju Feng¹, Ke-Ming Fang², Ai-Jun Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China.
² Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China. Electronic address: sky65@zjnu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Advanced Catalysis Materials, College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China. Electronic address: ajwang@zjnu.cn.

PMID: 32402824
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.120

Abstract

Developing efficient and stable electrocatalysts with three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical nanostructures is extremely important in practical applications of direct alcohol fuel cells. Herein, 3D hierarchical thorn-like multi-metallic PtPdNiCu alloyed nanotripods (PtPdNiCu TNTPs) were efficiently fabricated by a one-pot aqueous method, in which Pluronic F127 performed as the structure-director and dispersing agent. The as-prepared PtPdNiCu TNTPs exhibited distinct electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) with a mass activity (MA) of 1.465 A mg^-1_Pd, which is superior to commercial Pt/C (0.925 A mg^-1_Pd) in 1.0 M KOH solution, along with the greater MA (1.019 A mg^-1_Pd) for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) than Pt/C (0.712 A mg^-1_Pd). This work would provide an impetus for rationally constructing multimetal nanomaterials to commercial implementation of advanced alcohol fuel cells.

Keywords: Alloy nanotripods; Direct alcohol fuel cells; Ethanol oxidation reaction; Methanol oxidation reaction; Multimetal nanocrystals.