Atomic Platinum Skin under Synergy of Cobalt for Enhanced Methanol Oxidation Electrocatalysis.

To reduce the cost of the catalyst and the consumption of Pt, a facile electrochemical displacement preparation method is proposed, and the nanostructures can be easily controlled by a strong reducing agent and a surfactant. Two distinct Pt-Co spheres, Pt-Co core-shell spheres (CSSs), and Pt-Co hollow alloy spheres (HASs) were successfully synthesized by changing the introduction of N2. Interestingly, Pt-Co CSSs possess a Pt-rich shell with 7 atomic layer thickness, which promotes the efficient utilization of Pt atoms. Pt-Co HASs have a highly open structure and a single alloy phase. For the methanol oxidation reaction, Pt-Co CSSs and Pt-Co HASs exhibit enhanced catalytic performances. Compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst, the mass activity of the Pt-Co CSS catalyst is increased by 4 times, and it has better stability. More importantly, the current work opens a door to the batch preparation of Pt-based catalysts and synthesis of shell nanostructures.