Catalytic activities for methanol oxidation on ultrathin CuPt3 wavy nanowires with/without smart polymer

Gengtao Fu; Xiaoxiao Yan; Zhiming Cui; Dongmei Sun; Lin Xu; Yawen Tang; John B. Goodenough; Jong-Min Lee

doi:10.1039/C6SC01501H

Catalytic activities for methanol oxidation on ultrathin CuPt₃ wavy nanowires with/without smart polymer†

Gengtao Fu,‡^ab Xiaoxiao Yan,‡^a Zhiming Cui,

^b Dongmei Sun,^a Lin Xu,^ac Yawen Tang,*^a John B. Goodenough^b and Jong-Min Lee*^c

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
E-mail: tangyawen@njnu.edu.cn

^b Materials Science and Engineering Program & Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

^c School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore
E-mail: jmlee@ntu.edu.sg

Abstract

Superior catalytic activity and stability for the methanol oxidation reaction of a direct methanol–air fuel cell is achieved with “clean” ultrathin CuPt₃ wavy nanowires. The nanowires are synthesized for the first time by functionalizing CuPt₃ nanoparticles with amine-terminated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), a thermosensitive “smart” polymer having a phase transition at a liquid-electrolyte T_t (low critical solution temperature, 35 °C). Interestingly, retention of the functionalizing smart polymer on the surface of the nanowires reversibly switches the catalytic activity to lower rates above the T_t. The catalytic performance of the “clean” CuPt₃ nanowires is shown to be significantly improved over that of commercial Pt black catalyst, owing to their unique structural advantages and bimetallic synergetic effect.

This article is part of the themed collection: Global Energy Challenges: Energy Applications

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SC01501H
Article type: Edge Article
Submitted: 05 Apr 2016
Accepted: 04 May 2016
First published: 17 May 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry

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Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 5414-5420

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Catalytic activities for methanol oxidation on ultrathin CuPt₃ wavy nanowires with/without smart polymer

G. Fu, X. Yan, Z. Cui, D. Sun, L. Xu, Y. Tang, J. B. Goodenough and J. Lee, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 5414 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC01501H

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