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Development of Pt group metal-free catalysts for low-temperature CO oxidation remains critical. In this work, active and stable mesoporous Cu-Ce-O x solid solutions are prepared by using spray pyrolysis. The specific surface areas and pore volumes reach as high as 170 m 2  g -1 and 0.24 cm 3  g -1 , respectively. The results of CO oxidation study suggest that (1) the catalyst obtained by spray pyrolysis possesses much higher activity than those made by co-precipitation, sol-gel, and hydrothermal methods; (2) the optimal Cu 0.2 -Ce 0.8 -O x solid solution presents a reactivity over 28 times that of both single-component CuO and CeO 2 at 70 °C. Based on the study of pure-phase Cu-Ce-O x solid solutions by selective leaching of segregated CuO x species, the active center for CO oxidation is confirmed as the bimetallic Cu-Ce-O site, whereas the individual CuO x particles not only act as spectators but also block the active Cu-Ce-O sites. A low apparent activation energy of approximately 48 kJ mol -1 is detected for CO oxidation at the Cu-Ce-O site, making Cu-Ce-O x solid solutions able to present high activity at low temperature. Furthermore, the Cu-Ce-O x catalysts exhibit excellent stability and thermal tolerance toward CO oxidation., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Graphene-based hybrid nanostructures possess many advantages in the field of electrochemical energy applications. In this work, a facile and efficient hydrothermal approach has been developed for the preparation of NiFe alloy nanoparticles/rGO hybrid nanostructures, in which the nanoparticles are well combined with rGO nanosheets and the size of the nanoparticles is about 100 nm. Moreover, the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) tests confirmed that the obtained NiFe/rGO hybrid nanostructures possess notably higher activity than both the rGO-free NiFe nanoparticles and pure Ni/rGO hybrids, and the optimal NiFe ratio is 2:1. The OER overpotential at 20 mA cm(-1-2) with Ni2 Fe/rGO is as low as 0.285 V, which is 96 mV lower than that of pure Ni/rGO hybrids. Meanwhile, the Ni2 Fe/rGO catalyst has excellent stability. Therefore, this work contributes a facile and efficient method to prepare a NiFe alloy nanoparticles/rGO hybrid structure for potential applications in the field of electrochemical energy devices, such as electrochemical water splitting cells, rechargeable metal/air batteries, etc., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Preparing nonprecious metal catalysts with high activity in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) can promote the development of energy conversion devices. Support-free porous Mn2 O3 was synthesized by a facile aerosol-spray-assisted approach (ASAA) and subsequent thermal treatment, and exhibited ORR activity that is comparable to commercial Pt/C The catalyst also exhibits notably higher activity than other Mn-based oxides, such as Mn3 O4 and MnO2 . The rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) study indicates a typical 4-electron ORR pathway on Mn2 O3 . Furthermore, the porous Mn2 O3 demonstrates considerable stability and a good methanol tolerance in alkaline media. In light of the low cost and high earth abundance of Mn, the highly active Mn2 O3 is a promising candidate to be used as a cathode material in metal-air batteries and alkaline fuel cells., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) with 1-5 nm diameter obtained from NaHB4 reduction possess high catalytic activity. However, they are rarely used directly. This work presents a facile, versatile, and efficient aerosol-spray approach to deliver noble-metal NPs into metal oxide supports, while maintaining the size of the NPs and the ability to easily adjust the loading amount. In comparison with the conventional spray approach, the size of the loaded noble-metal nanoparticles can be significantly decreased. An investigation of the 4-nitrophenol hydrogenation reaction catalyzed by these materials suggests that the NPs/oxides catalysts have high activity and good endurance. For 1 % Au/CeO2 and Pd/Al2 O3 catalysts, the rate constants reach 2.03 and 1.46 min(-1) , which is much higher than many other reports with the same noble-metal loading scale. Besides, the thermal stability of catalysts can be significantly enhanced by modifying the supports. Therefore, this work contributes an efficient method as well as some guidance on how to produce highly active and stable supported noble-metal catalysts., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Bimetallic tubular nanostructures have been the focus of intensive research as they have very interesting potential applications in various fields including catalysis and electronics. In this paper, we demonstrate a facile method for the fabrication of Au-Pt double-walled nanotubes (Au-Pt DWNTs). The DWNTs are fabricated through the galvanic displacement reaction between Ag nanowires and various metal ions, and the Au-Pt DWNT catalysts exhibit high active catalytic performances toward both methanol electro-oxidation and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction. First, they have a high electrochemically active surface area of 61.66 m(2)  g(-1), which is close to the value of commercial Pt/C catalysts (64.76 m(2) g(-1)), and the peak current density of Au-Pt DWNTs in methanol oxidation is recorded as 138.25 mA mg(-1), whereas those of Pt nanotubes, Au/Pt nanotubes (simple mixture), and commercial Pt/C are 24.12, 40.95, and 120.65 mA mg(-1), respectively. The Au-Pt DWNTs show a markedly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation compared with the other three catalysts. They also show an excellent catalytic performance in comparison with common Au nanotubes for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction. The attractive performance exhibited by these prepared Au-Pt DWNTs can be attributed to their unique structures, which make them promising candidates as high-performance catalysts., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Herein we report a gentle seedless and surfactant-free method for the preparation of clean-surface porous platinum nanoparticles. In terms of electrocatalytic CH(3)OH oxidation, the clean-surface porous platinum exhibited better performance than platinum nanoparticles and a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The porous nanostructures exhibited 2.26-fold higher mass activity and 2.8-fold greater specific activity than the Pt/C catalyst. More importantly, three typical surfactants, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide/chloride (CTAB/C), poly(vinylpyrrolidone), and sodium dodecyl sulfate, were chosen to study the inhibition effect of surfactants on electrocatalytic performance. It was observed that the surfactants led to a clear selective decrease in electrocatalytic performance. CTAB/C inhibited the catalytic activity the most due to the stronger interaction between the OH-enriched platinum surface and the positively charged molecules. Thus, this work indicates that these clean-surface porous platinum nanoparticles may be used as efficient catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells and provides a greater understanding of the inhibition effects of surfactants on catalytic activity., (Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

In this work, we utilize the galvanic displacement synthesis and make it a general and efficient method for the preparation of Au-M (M = Au, Pd, and Pt) core-shell nanostructures with porous shells, which consist of multilayer nanoparticles. The method is generally applicable to the preparation of Au-Au, Au-Pd, and Au-Pt core-shell nanostructures with typical porous shells. Moreover, the Au-Au isomeric core-shell nanostructure is reported for the first time. The lower oxidation states of Au(I), Pd(II), and Pt(II) are supposed to contribute to the formation of porous core-shell nanostructures instead of yolk-shell nanostructures. The electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance of porous Au-Pd core-shell nanostructures are assessed as a typical example for the investigation of the advantages of the obtained core-shell nanostructures. As expected, the Au-Pd core-shell nanostructure indeed exhibits a significantly reduced overpotential (the peak potential is shifted in the positive direction by 44 mV and 32 mV), a much improved CO tolerance (I(f)/I(b) is 3.6 and 1.63 times higher), and an enhanced catalytic stability in comparison with Pd nanoparticles and Pt/C catalysts. Thus, porous Au-M (M = Au, Pd, and Pt) core-shell nanostructures may provide many opportunities in the fields of organic catalysis, direct alcohol fuel cells, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and so forth., (Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Much effort has gone into generating polyhedral noble metal nanostructures because of their superior electrocatalytic activities for fuel cells. Herein, we report uniform, high-yield icosahedral silver and gold nanoparticles by using a facile one-pot, seedless, water-based approach that incorporates polyvinyl pyrrolidone and ammonia. Electrocatalysis of the oxygen-reduction reaction was carried out in alkaline media to evaluate the performance of the icosahedral nanoparticles. They showed excellent stability and much higher electrocatalytic activity than the spherelike nanoparticles; they display a positive shift in reduction peak potential for O(2) of 0.14 and 0.05 V, while the reduction peak currents of the silver and gold icosahedra are 1.5- and 1.6-fold, respectively, better than the spherelike nanoparticles. More importantly, the icosahedral nanoparticles display electrocatalytic activities comparable with commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts. The facile preparation of icosahedral silver and gold nanoparticles and their superior performance in the oxygen reduction reaction render them attractive replacements for Pt as cathode electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells., (Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)