1-Naphthol induced Pt3Ag nanocorals as bifunctional cathode and anode catalysts of direct formic acid fuel cells

• Main Authors: Jiang, Xian, Liu, Yang, Wang, Jiaxin, Wang, Yufei, Xiong, Yuexin, Liu, Qun, Li, Naixu, Zhou, Jiancheng, Fu, Gengtao, Sun, Dongmei, Tang, Yawen
• Other Authors: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Chemical engineering; Pt3Ag Alloy; Nanocorals
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/151345
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Developing highly efficient bifunctional cathode and anode electrocatalysts is very important for the large-scale application of direct formic acid fuel cells. However, the high-cost and poor CO-tolerance ability of the most commonly used Pt greatly block this process. To increase the utilization efficiency and extend bifunctional properties of precious Pt, herein, coral-like Pt3Ag nanocrystals are developed as an excellent bifunctional electrocatalyst through a facile one-pot solvothermal method. The formation mechanism of Pt3Ag nanocorals has been elaborated well via a series of control experiments. It is proved that 1-naphthol serving as a guiding surfactant plays a key role in the formation of high-quality nanocorals. Thanks to the unique coral-like structure and alloy effects, the developed Pt3Ag nanocorals present significantly enhanced electrocatalytic properties (including activity, stability and CO-tolerance ability) towards both the cathodic oxygen reduction and anodic formic acid oxidation, as compared with those of commercial Pt black and Pt-based nanoparticles. The present synthetic method can also be extended to fabricate other bimetallic electrocatalysts with unique morphology and structure.