Despite intense research in past decades, the lack of high-performance catalysts for fuel cell reactions remains a challenge in realizing fuel cell technologies for transportation applications. Here we report a facile strategy for synthesizing hierarchical platinum-cobalt nanowires with high-index, platinum-rich facets and ordered intermetallic structure. These structural features enable unprecedented performance for the oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation reactions. The specific/mass activities of the platinum-cobalt nanowires for oxygen reduction reaction are 39.6/33.7 times higher than commercial Pt/C catalyst, respectively. Density functional theory simulations reveal that the active threefold hollow sites on the platinum-rich high-index facets provide an additional factor in enhancing oxygen reduction reaction activities. The nanowires are stable in the electrochemical conditions and also thermally stable. This work may represent a key step towards scalable production of high-performance platinum-based nanowires for applications in catalysis and energy conversion.

Nature Communications 7, Article number: 11850 doi:10.1038/ncomms11850
Received 21 December 2015 Accepted 05 May 2016 Published 29 June 2016

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160629/ncomms11850/full/ncomms11850.html

中文报道链接：
http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA3NjIwODA1Nw==&mid=2650222455&idx=1&sn=602a7b43d4f9dbd2fa27ef814be88dca&scene=1&srcid=07049dLSinOxEtGcoW4nfIDD#rd