PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures made by post-synthesis modification of Pt-on-Au nanoparticles

Abstract

Bimetallic PtAu heteronanostructures have been synthesized from Pt-on-Au nanoparticles, which were made from platinum acetylacetonate and gold nanoparticles. Using the Pt-on-Au nanoparticles as precursors, Ptsurface rich PtAu bimetallic heteronanostructures can be produced through controlled thermal treatments, as confirmed by field emission high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and elemental mapping using a high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscope (HAADF-STEM). Oxidation of formic acid was used as a model reaction to demonstrate the effects of varying composition and surface structure on the catalytic performance of PtAu bimetallic nanostructures. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed that these carbon-supported PtAu heteronanostructures were much more active than platinum in catalyzing the oxidation of formic acid, judging by the mass current density. The results showed that postsynthesis modification can be a very useful approach to the control of composition distributions in alloy nanostructures. © 2009 Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH.