Electrochemically Shape-Controlled Synthesis in Deep Eutectic Solvents—A New Route to Prepare Pt Nanocrystals Enclosed by High-Index Facets with High Catalytic Activity

Abstract

In the present paper, we have developed for the first time the electrochemically shape-controlled synthesis in deep eutectic solvents (DESs) for the preparation of Pt nanocrystals enclosed by high-index facets. Monodispersed concave tetrahexahedral Pt nanocrystals (THH Pt NCs) have been prepared through this new route. The concave THH Pt NCs were characterized by SEM, TEM, and AFM. The as-prepared concave Pt NCs are bounded with {910} and vicinal high-index facets, which exhibit superior catalytic activity and stability to those of the commercial Pt black catalyst for ethanol electrooxidation. We have demonstrated also that the electrochemically shape-controlled synthesis in DESs proves advantageous in controlling the size and shape of Pt NCs without the addition of seeds, surfactants, or other chemicals and could be applied in the synthesis of other noble metal NCs with high surface energy and high catalytic activity.

Low melting mixtures in organic synthesis – an alternative to ionic liquids?

“…3 Table 14 shows the conductivities observed in DESs which are comparable to ionic liquids; 44,45 DESs are therefore a highly investigated medium for electrochemical applications. [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63] Readers interested in electrodeposition from ILs and DESs will find a good review in ref. 64.…”

“…93 Furthermore, monodispersed concave tetrahexahedral Pt nanocrystals were prepared by electrochemical shape-controlled synthesis in deep eutectic solvents. 48 Using this new synthetic method, the size and shape of the nanocrystals can be controlled without addition of seeds, surfactants, or other chemicals.…”

A simple electrochemical method for conversion of Pt wires to Pt concave icosahedra and nanocubes on carbon paper for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution

“…The catalytic performance of noble metal nanocrystals is highly dependent on their size, shape, composition, crystal facet, crystal phase, etc. Besides the recently developed crystal-phase controlled synthesis of noble metal nanocrystals [8][9][10][11][12][13], lots of efforts have been devoted into the shape-controlled synthesis of noble metal nanostructures with high-index facets [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. However, most of the reported noble metal nanostructures with unique morphologies are prepared via the traditional wet-chemical methods in which metal salts or complexes are used as precursors, and surfactants or ligands are used to tune/ stabilize their morphologies [23][24][25][26][27].…”

“…However, further process is required to remove these templates in order to purify noble metal nanomaterials used for various applications including electrocatalysis. Recently, Sun and co-workers [14,17,[33][34][35] developed a square-wave potential based method to directly synthesize Pt and Pd polyhedra with high-index facets on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using noble metal salts, i.e., K 2 PtCl 6 and PdCl 2 , respectively, as precursors.…”

Synthesis of platinum nanoparticles with higher stability in ionic liquid–Nafion film and their electrocatalytic application

“…At present, the most active catalyst for methanol oxidation is platinum (Pt). The electrocatalytic activity of Pt particles is affected by many factors, especially particle size and distribution [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The microenvironment significantly affects the morphology and electrocatalytic properties of nanoparticles (NPs) [11,12].…”