The foreground of renewable energy technologies largely relies on the development of advanced electrocatalysts with improved energy conversion and chemical transformation efficiencies. However, most of the catalytic materials employed in electrochemical energy devices comprise expensive and scarce platinum group metals (PGMs), which has limited the scalable applications of these technologies. We report here the development of NPM/PGM core/shell nanostructures with low PGM content and tunable surface strain. A general organic solution synthesis has been developed to grow core-shell nanostructures via seed-mediated growth, with the core being an NPM (e.g., Cu, Ni) and the shell being a PGM such as Pt, Pd, or Rh. Tuning of surface strain was achieved by varying the shell thickness, as revealed by employing atomically resolved scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging and macroscopically averaged X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Adsorption properties of the strained core-shell nanoparticles were evaluated by performing electro-chemisorption measurements. Through atomistic simulation based on molecular dynamics and densify functional theory (DFT) calculations, we were able to establish linear scaling relationships correlating the shell thickness, strain, and adsorption properties of the core-shell nanostructures. The derived structure-property relationships were further used to guide the design and optimization of core-shell nanostructures for electrocatalytic applications.

Core-shell nanostrucutres with low precious metal content and tunable strain for electrocatalysis

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.