Engineering porosity into trimetallic PtPdNi nanospheres for enhanced electrocatalytic oxygen reduction activity

Platinum (Pt)-based multi-metallic nanostructures show great promise as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cell cathodes. Herein, we report a simple, one-step surfactant-directed synthetic strategy to directly synthesize tri-metallic PtPdNi mesoporous nanospheres (PtPdNi MNs) in a high yield. The synthesis could be accomplished in aqueous solution at mild reaction temperature (40 degrees C) without needing any organic solvent, yielding well-dispersed PtPdNi MNs with uniform shape and narrow size distribution. Benefitting from their unique mesoporous and highly open structure and tri-metallic composition, the as-synthesized PtPdNi MNs demonstrate superior catalytic activity and stability for ORR in acidic solution in comparison with PtPdNi nanodendrites (PtPdNi NDs), PtPd MNs and commercial Pt/C catalyst. The present approach may open a reliable path to the design of advanced electrocatalysts with desired performance. (C) 2018, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V.