Ultrathin Pt-Cu-Ni Ternary Alloy Nanowires with Multimetallic Interplay for Boosted Methanol Oxidation Activity

Controllably incorporating multiple non-noble metals into noble metal nanoparticles may greatly extend the degree to which the electronic structure and thus the catalytic activity of the nanoparticles could be engineered, which suffers from ineffective coreduction of metals with different reduction potentials. In this work, we achieved the designable synthesis of such multimetallic alloy nanomaterials exemplified by ultrathin Pt-Cu-Ni ternary alloy nanowires by involving an electroless plating mechanism. Experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations show remarkable electronic coupling among the multiple alloy components. As a result, the Pt-Cu-Ni ternary alloy possesses a higher adsorption energy of *OH and a lower adsorption energy of *CO than any of the Pt-M (M = Cu, Ni) binary alloys, both being favorable for boosting the kinetics of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The specific and mass activities of the ternary alloy nanowires well surpass those of the binary alloy counterparts and reach up to 7.4 mA cm(-2) and 2.1 A mgPt(-1), respectively, making them top-ranked catalysts. The multimetallic electronic coupling further makes Cu, the major non-noble metal component, less prone to leaching, leading to improved stability. Our results showcase the intriguing catalytic properties by modifying the electronic structure of noble metal nanoparticles by multiple non-noble metal alloy components, which opens up opportunities in the design of highly efficient catalysts for the MOR and many other applications.

Automated summary

Controllably incorporating multiple non-noble metals into noble metal nanoparticles enhances the catalytic activity by modifying the electronic structure, leading to the designable synthesis of multimetallic alloy nanomaterials. The electronic coupling among the alloy components improves the adsorption energy and kinetics of the methanol oxidation reaction, making the ternary alloy nanowires top-ranked catalysts with improved stability. This approach opens up opportunities for designing highly efficient catalysts for various applications.