Preparation of Pt hollow nanotubes with adjustable diameters for methanol electrooxidation

Abstract

Pt hollow nanotubes (Pt HNTs) with adjustable diameters as methanol oxidation electrocatalysts were synthesized through a galvanic replacement method, in which Ag nanowires with variable diameters obtained under controllable microwave irradiation conditions were used as the sacrificial templates. The Pt HNTs with a diameter of 100 nm (Pt-100) exhibited the highest catalytic activity, which was 1.6 times the state-of-the-art commercial Pt black, showing the advantage of hollow tube nanostructure over nanoparticle structure in electrocatalysis for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Dependence of electrocatalytic activity on Pt HNT diameter reflects the Pt utilization effect in the geometrical view.