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Controllable self-assembly of noble metal nanocrystals is of broad interest for the development of highly active electrocatalysts. Here we report an efficient arginine-mediated hydrothermal approach for the high-yield synthesis of cube-like Pt nanoassemblies (Pt-CNAs) with porous cavities and rough surfaces based on the self-assembly of zero dimensional Pt nanocrystals. In this process, arginine acts as the reductant, structure directing agent, and linker between adjacent nanocrystals. Interestingly, the Pt-CNAs exhibit single-crystal structures with dominant {100} facets, as evidenced by X-ray diffraction. Based on electrocatalytic studies, the as-synthesized Pt-CNAs exhibit improved electrocatalytic activity as well as good stability and CO tolerance in the methanol oxidation reaction. The Pt-CNA's good performance is attributed to their unique morphology and surface structure. We believe that the synthetic strategy outlined here could be extended to other rationally designed monometallic or bimetallic nanoassemblies for use in high performance fuel cells.
This research was sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21576139, 21503111, 21473111, 21376122, and 21273116), United Fund of National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC) and Yunnan Province (No. U1137602), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20131395), Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (No. 2015JM2043), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. GK201402016), China Scholarship Council (CSC, No. 201506860013), University Postgraduate Research and Innovation Project in Jiangsu Province (No. KYZZ15_0213), National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Biomedical Functional Material, and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.