In Situ Integration of Ultrathin PtCu Nanowires with Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheets for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction

Abstract

Ultrathin Pt-based nanowires are considered as promising electrocatalysts owing to their high atomic utilization efficiency and structural robustness. Moreover, integration of Pt-based nanowires with graphene oxide (GO) could further increase the electrocatalytic performance, yet remains challenging to date. Herein, for the first time we demonstrate the in situ synthesis of ultrathin PtCu nanowires grown over reduced GO (PtCu-NWs/rGO) by a one-pot hydrothermal approach with the aid of amine-terminated poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM-NH ). The judicious selection of PNIPAM-NH facilitates the in situ nucleation and anisotropic growth of nanowires on the rGO surface and oriented attachment mechanism accounts for the formation of PtCu ultrathin nanowires. Owing to the synergy between PtCu NWs and rGO support, the PtCu-NWs/rGO outperforms the rGO supported PtCu nanoparticles (PtCu-NPs/rGO), PtCu-NWs, and commercial Pt/C toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with higher activity and better stability, making it a promising cathodic electrocatalyst for both fuel cells and metal-air cells. Moreover, the present synthetic strategy could inspire the future design of other metal alloy nanowires/carbon hybrid catalysts.

Emerging Mono‐Elemental Bismuth Nanostructures: Controlled Synthesis and Their Versatile Applications

“…Nanowires are typical 1D nanomaterials with nanometer diameters, which represent an essential platform for basic science and applied science. [112][113][114][115][116] Similar to well-known 1D Sb nanowires, [117,118] 1D Te nanowires, [119,120] and 1D Se nanowire, [121][122][123] 1D Bi nanowires have also attracted extensive attention due to their unique properties. For example, single-crystalline Bi nanowires were successfully fabricated by spontaneous growing on films based on thermal expansion mismatch of Bi film and the substrate via an OFF-ON method because of the thermally induced stress during annealing.…”

Recent Advances in Functional 2D MXene‐Based Nanostructures for Next‐Generation Devices

“…© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH due to their fundamental properties in scientific research and potential applications. [113][114][115][116][117][118][119] The synergistic effects are expected for 2D MXene/1D nanomaterial heterostructures to combine both structural advantages of 1D nanostructure and 2D MXene for desirable performances. [32,33,54,[66][67][68][69][120][121][122] For example, Xiao et al [66] anchored well-defined CdS nanorods on ultrathin Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets through electrostatically driven assembly and hydrothermal methods (Figure 6a).…”

Binder‐Free Air Electrodes for Rechargeable Zinc‐Air Batteries: Recent Progress and Future Perspectives

“…[ 12–15 ] Although a large number of highly efficient electrocatalysts for the ORR or the OER have been reported, it is still a challenging task to effectively catalyze both ORR and OER by a bifunctional electrocatalyst. [ 16–25 ] Recently, a strategy in battery design has been delivered to address the dilemma, where the Zn‐air battery possesses three electrodes comprising a Zn anode placed between decoupled ORR electrode and OER electrode. [ 26–29 ] However, the complex cell design and depressed volumetric/power energy density are unfavorable for the commercialization.…”