Excavated and dendritic Pt-Co nanocubes as efficient ethylene glycol and glycerol oxidation electrocatalysts

Noble metal electrocatalysts with excavated and dendritic architectures have recently attracted growing attention for their large accessible surface areas and high density of under-coordinated atoms. However, it is a tough challenge to avoid the atoms migrating to the corners and kinks and finally obtain the excavated structure, after the complicated interaction among multiple factors during the synthesis process, let alone the growth control of dendritic shape. Herein we demonstrate a facile strategy to synthesize Pt-Co nanocubes having excavated and dendritic structure (Pt-Co EDNCs). Specifically, the Pt-Co EDNC nanocrystal is composed of a deeply excavated nanocube and nanodendrites selectively protruding on the vertexes. Further electrocatalytic investigations showed that Pt-Co EDNCs exhibited enhanced catalytic properties towards the electro-oxidation of ethylene glycol and glycerol compared with commercial Pt/C, which could be attributed to both its unique structure and the synergism between Pt and Co.