Rhodium metallene-supported platinum nanocrystals for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction

Low-temperature fuel cells have great application potential in electric vehicles and portable electronic devices, which need advanced electrocatalysts. Controlling the composition and morphology of electrocatalysts can effectively improve their catalytic performance. In this work, a Rh metallene (Rhlene)-supported Pt nanoparticle (Pt/Rhlene) electrocatalyst is successfully synthesized by a simple chemical reduction method, in which ultra-small Pt nanoparticles are uniformly attached to the Rhlene surface due to the high surface area of Rhlene. Pt/Rhlene reveals a 3.60-fold Pt-mass activity enhancement for the ethylene glycol oxidation reaction in alkaline solution compared with commercial Pt black, and maintains high stability and excellent poisoning-tolerance during electrocatalysis, owing to the specific physical/chemical properties of Rhlene. The superior electrocatalytic performance of Pt/Rhlene may open an avenue to synthesize other metallene-supported noble metal nanoparticle hybrids for various electrocatalytic applications.

Automated summary

A Rh metallene-supported Pt nanoparticle electrocatalyst with ultra-small Pt nanoparticles uniformly attached to the Rh surface was successfully synthesized. Pt/Rhlene exhibited a 3.60-fold Pt-mass activity enhancement for the ethylene glycol oxidation reaction compared with commercial Pt black, and maintained high stability and excellent poisoning-tolerance during electrocatalysis, thanks to the specific physical/chemical properties of Rhlene. The superior electrocatalytic performance of Pt/Rhlene may pave the way for synthesizing other metallene-supported noble metal nanoparticle hybrids for various electrocatalytic applications.