Synthesis of hollow PtAg alloy nanospheres with excellent electrocatalytic performances towards methanol and formic acid oxidations

Abstract

Hollow PtAg alloy nanospheres were synthesized via galvanic replacement reaction between silver nanoparticles and K2PtCl4 at 60 °C. Their morphology, composition and structure were characterized by UV-vis, XRD, TEM, HRTEM, SAED, EDX and XPS. It was found that the shell thickness and roughness could be controlled by varying the amount of Pt precursor solutions. Compared with commercially available Pt black, the PtAg showed higher catalytic activity and higher CO tolerance towards the electro-oxidations of methanol and formic acid, which make them a prominent catalyst for DMFCs and DFAFCs.