In this paper, we demonstrate the synthesis of morphologically complex nanoframes wherein a mixture of frames and thin solid planes, which we refer to as walled-nanoframes, are present in a single particle. By applying multiple chemical steps including shape evolution of Au nanocrystals and controlling chemical potential of solution for selective deposition, we successfully designed a variety of Pt nanoframes including Pt cuboctahedral nanoframes and Pt single-walled nanoframes. The rationale for on-demand chemical steps with well-faceted Au overgrowth allowed for the synthesis of double-walled nanoframes where two Pt single-walled nanoframes are concentrically overlapped in a single entity with a clearly discernible gap between the two nanoframes. Given the coexistence of an open structure of nanoframe and thin plates within one entity, the double-walled nanoframes showed a dramatic increase in catalytic activity toward the methanol oxidation reaction, acting as high-surface area, carbon-free, and volume-compact nanocatalysts.
Keywords: catalyst; complex nanostructures; frame in frame; nanoframes; platinum.