Catalytic Pt-on-Au Nanostructures: Why Pt Becomes More Active on Smaller Au Particles
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2012 papers
Abstract
Platinum is a widely used precious metal in many catalytic nanostructures. Engineering the surface electronic structure of Pt-containing bi- or multimetallic nanostructure to enhance both the intrinsic activity and dispersion of Pt has remained a challenge. By constructing Pt-on-Au (Pt^Au) nanostructures using a series of monodisperse Au nanoparticles in the size range of 2-14 nm, we disclose herein a new approach to steadily change both properties of Pt in electrocatalysis with downsizing of the Au nanoparticles. A combined tuning of Pt dispersion and its surface electronic structure is shown as a consequence of the changes in the size and valence-band structure of Au, which leads to significantly enhanced Pt mass-activity on the small Au nanoparticles. Fully dispersed Pt entities on the smallest Au nanoparticles (2 nm) exhibit the highest mass-activity to date towards formic acid electrooxidation, being 2 orders of magnitude (75-300 folds) higher than conventional Pt/C catalyst. Fundamental relationships correlating the Pt intrinsic activity in Pt^Au nanostructures with the experimentally determined surface electronic structures (d-band center energies) of the Pt entities and their underlying Au nanoparticles are established.
Related Papers
- → Dispersity in polymer science (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)(2009)306 cited
- → Aims of Electrocatalysis(2015)1 cited
- → Distribution of near neighbours in randomly packed hard spheres(1980)8 cited
- Preparation and characterization of La_(0.6) Ca_(0.4) CoO_3 as bifunctional oxygen electrode electrocatalyst(2004)
- → Dispersity in Polymer Science(2016)