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Nano Research 2009, 2(5): 406-415 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-009-9040-9
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 01 May 2009

PtAu Bimetallic Heteronanostructures Made by Post-Synthesis Modification of Pt-on-Au Nanoparticles

Show Author's Information Zhenmeng Peng,  Hong Yang( )
Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of RochesterGavett Hall 206RochesterNY14627USA
Keywords:
gold, Nanostructure, alloy, platinum, formic acid oxidation, electrocatalyst, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)
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Peng Z, Yang H. PtAu Bimetallic Heteronanostructures Made by Post-Synthesis Modification of Pt-on-Au Nanoparticles. Nano Research, 2009, 2(5): 406-415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-009-9040-9
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Bimetallic PtAu heteronanostructures have been synthesized from Pt-on-Au nanoparticles, which were made from platinum acetylacetonate and gold nanoparticles. Using the Pt-on-Au nanoparticles as precursors, Pt-surface rich PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures can be produced through controlled thermal treatments, as confirmed by field emission high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and elemental mapping using a high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM). Oxidation of formic acid was used as a model reaction to demonstrate the effects of varying composition and surface structure on the catalytic performance of PtAu bimetallic nanostructures. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed that these carbon-supported PtAu heteronanostructures were much more active than platinum in catalyzing the oxidation of formic acid, judging by the mass current density. The results showed that post-synthesis modification can be a very useful approach to the control of composition distributions in alloy nanostructures.


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About this article

PtAu Bimetallic Heteronanostructures Made by Post-Synthesis Modification of Pt-on-Au Nanoparticles

Show Author's information Zhenmeng Peng, Hong Yang( )
Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of RochesterGavett Hall 206RochesterNY14627USA

Abstract

Bimetallic PtAu heteronanostructures have been synthesized from Pt-on-Au nanoparticles, which were made from platinum acetylacetonate and gold nanoparticles. Using the Pt-on-Au nanoparticles as precursors, Pt-surface rich PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures can be produced through controlled thermal treatments, as confirmed by field emission high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and elemental mapping using a high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM). Oxidation of formic acid was used as a model reaction to demonstrate the effects of varying composition and surface structure on the catalytic performance of PtAu bimetallic nanostructures. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed that these carbon-supported PtAu heteronanostructures were much more active than platinum in catalyzing the oxidation of formic acid, judging by the mass current density. The results showed that post-synthesis modification can be a very useful approach to the control of composition distributions in alloy nanostructures.

Keywords: gold, Nanostructure, alloy, platinum, formic acid oxidation, electrocatalyst, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

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Received: 22 January 2009
Revised: 10 March 2009
Accepted: 16 March 2009
Published: 01 May 2009
Issue date: May 2009

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© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag 2009

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by U.S. National Science Foundation (DMR-0449849). It made use of Shared Experimental Facilities at the University of Rochester River Campus Electron Microscope Lab and at the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) supported by NSF. We thank Mr. Hongjun You for help.

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