Facile solvothermal fabrication of polypyrrole sheets supported dendritic platinum-cobalt nanoclusters for highly efficient oxygen reduction and ethylene glycol oxidation

Herein, uniform dendritic PtCo nanoclusters supported on sheet-like polypyrrole (PtCo NCs/PPy) were prepared by a facile one-pot solvothermal method. Cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) and pyrrole worked as the capping agent and reductant, respectively, and pyrrole was in-situ polymerized to form PPy sheets under solvothermal conditions. The dendritic PtCo NCs/PPy had the enlarged electrochemically active surface area (EASA, 30.95 m 2 g −1 ), and showed the superior catalytic performance and durability towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) in comparison with Pt 1 Co 3 nanoparticles (NPs), Pt 3 Co 1 NPs and commercial Pt/C catalysts. This work displays a new strategy for rational design and synthesis of advanced functional nanocomposites as electrocatalysts in fuel cells.