Arginine-mediated synthesis of cube-like platinum nanoassemblies as efficient electrocatalysts

• Published in: Nano research 2015-12, Vol.8 (12), p.3963-3971
• Main Authors: Fu, Gengtao, Zhang, Qian, Wu, Jiayan, Sun, Dongmei, Xu, Lin, Tang, Yawen, Chen, Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arginine; Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Bimetals; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Crystal structure; Crystals; Electrocatalysts; Materials Science; Methyl alcohol; Nanocrystals; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Noble metals; Oxidation; Platinum; Research Article; Self assembly; Single crystals; Surface structure; Synthesis; X-ray diffraction; 介导; 合成; 立方体; 精氨酸; 纳米铂; 组装体; 金属纳米晶; 高活性催化剂
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-015-0899-3

Controllable self-assembly of noble metal nanocrystals is of broad interest for the development of highly active electrocatalysts. Here we report an efficient arginine-mediated hydrothermal approach for the high-yield synthesis of cube-like Pt nanoassemblies （Pt-CNAs） with porous cavities and rough surfaces based on the self-assembly of zero dimensional Pt nanocrystals. In this process, arginine acts as the reductant, structure directing agent, and linker between adjacent nanocrystals. Interestingly, the Pt-CNAs exhibit single-crystal structures with dominant {100} facets, as evidenced by X-ray diffraction. Based on electrocatalytic studies, the as-synthesized Pt-CNAs exhibit improved electrocatalytic activity as well as good stability and CO tolerance in the methanol oxidation reaction. The Pt-CNA＇s good performance is attributed to their unique morphology and surface structure. We believe that the synthetic strategy outlined here could be extended to other rationally designed monometallic or bimetallic nanoassemblies for use in high performance fuel cells.