iChEM researchers Prof. Zhaoxiong Xie’s group collaborated with Prof. Younan Xia’s group from Georgia Institute of Technology, made important progress in the area of synthesizing Pt catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction. The result was published in Science as “Platinum-based nanocages with subnanometer-thick walls and well-defined, controllable facets” (Science, 2015, 349, 412; DOI: 10.1126/science.aab0801).

In the preparation of the noble metal catalyst, it has become a core issue to improve the utilization efficiency of precious metal by reducing the size of catalyst particles. However, during the reaction process, the small particles often prone to agglomeration or drop from the supports. In this study, they prepared a sub-nanometer thickness platinum nanocage. When the wall thickness of nanocage reached only a few atoms, the increase in the size of the particles does not affect the utilization efficiency of atoms. The study also found that octahedral platinum nanocage showed a superior catalytic activity and stability in oxygen reduction reaction. The study not only developed a platinum catalyst with ultrathin structure, but also opened up new ideas for the design and synthesis of noble metal catalyst.

URL link for article: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6246/412.full