PtPb alloy catalysts have received increasing attention owing to their excellent electro-chemical activity and stability. However, in recent years, there have been few reports on fabricating anisotropic structure of PtPb nanoparticles. Here we introduce a facile colloidal synthesis to fabricate two-dimensional PtPb alloy nanoplates by using diethylene glycol as both solvent and reducing agent. As a result, high-yield PtPb nanoplates with average edge length of 37.64 nm are successfully prepared. The two-dimensional PtPb nanostructures are demonstrated by TEM and SEM images. Systematic analyzed by HRTEM, XRD and electron diffraction, the exposed facets turn out to be (102) facets which can bring high catalytic activities. In addition, the EDX mapping depicts the uniform dispersity of Pt and Pb on the nanoplate. When the nanoplates are applied as the electro-catalyst, as excepted, the as-prepared two-dimensional PtPb alloy nanplates show higher activity of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and superior long-term durability in alkaline electrolyte compared with both commercial Pt/C and PtPb alloy nanospheres. It is generally accepted that nanoplates possess more surface area and active sites, resulting in excellence performance in catalysis. PtPb alloy nanoplates possess superior activity double of commercial Pt/C catalyst. In addition, after the measurement at the potential of -0.2 V versus SCE for 3600s, the nanoplates lose 34.1% of its initial current density, while Pt/C lose 77.1% and PtPb nanospheres lose 88.1% of that, showing superior long-term durability of alloy nanoplates. The catalytic performance of the nanoplates reinforce the notion that anisotropic structure do have a great impact on its catalytic performance. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the catalytic performance of anisotropic structure.

High-yield synthesis of Pt-based two-dimensional nanoplates for methanol electro-oxidation reaction

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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