Issue 12/2020 - Three-dimensional platinum-copper nanowire electrocatalytic materials may enhance commercial value

Recently, the team of Professor Wang Qin of Inner Mongolia University, together with the Key Laboratory of Mobile Materials of the Ministry of Education of Jilin University and other national key laboratories, developed an ultra-stable three-dimensional platinum-copper nanowire catalytic material
.
The material has an ultra-fine size, self-supporting rigid structure and a surface rich in copper vacancy defects
.

Carbon-supported platinum-based electrocatalytic materials have been applied to cathodic reduction and anodic oxidation reactions in fuel cells, but their commercial applications
are limited by poor stability, high cost and slow reaction kinetics.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an efficient and durable self-supporting platinum-based electrocatalytic material
.

The research team found that by alloying platinum with non-precious metals to reduce the amount of platinum, and adjusting lattice stress and electronic structure, excellent catalytic activity
of redox reaction can be obtained.
In addition, metal vacancy defects and compressive stress can significantly improve electrocatalytic performance
.
The defect can not only exhibit unique electronic properties, but also form new co-coordination structures with active species such as metal atoms and obtain the best catalytic performance
.

The research team synthesized superstable three-dimensional platinum-copper nanowires
with ultrafine size, self-supporting structure and copper-rich vacancy defects by electrochemically etching and assembling high-efficiency electrocatalytic materials rich in metal vacancies by electrochemical etching.
The material has excellent redox reaction catalytic performance, and its mass activity is 14.
1 times
that of commercial platinum catalysts.
The research team calculated the results using density functional theory to show that the introduction of copper vacancies changed the adsorption
of platinum atoms to oxygen-containing intermediates.
This study provides an important research idea
for the regulation of active sites in the process of electrochemical activation, as well as the study of metal vacancy defects and lattice stress.