Platinum nanocrystals with various shapes have been extensively studied to improve their catalytic performances toward the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. In particular, Pt multipods have attracted much attention due to their open branched structures and intrinsically high surface area. A number of strategies have been developed for the synthesis of Pt multipods, but the synthetic procedures could be complicated and it’s still challenging to scale up the production. We developed a facile technique for the scalable production of Pt multipods with small sizes and branched structure in a continuous flow system. The synthetic protocol was simplified by using oleylamine as the solvent, surfactant and reducing agent. It was proposed that the combination of fast autocatalytic surface growth and small particles attachment contributed to the anisotropic growth of Pt multipods. Compared with the batch-based synthesis, the throughput of the production in the flow system can be increased to 17 mg of Pt per hour with tight control over the quality of the products. Owing to the open branched structure, Pt multipods/C catalyst exhibited enhanced activity toward oxygen reduction reaction when benchmarked against the commercial Pt/C catalyst.<br/>

Continuous and scalable synthesis of Pt multipods with enhanced electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction

2019 Spring National Meeting

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