3D highly branched PtCoRh nanoassemblies: Glycine-assisted solvothermal synthesis and superior catalytic activity for alcohol oxidation

Abstract Advanced Pt-based ternary nanocatalysts display dramatically enhanced utilization efficiency of Pt alternative to mono- and bi-counterparts, owing to the synergistic effects of the tri-metals. Herein, multicomponent uniform 3D PtCoRh highly branched nanoassemblies (HBNAs) were prepared by glycine-assisted one-pot solvothermal method in oleylamine (OAm). The effects of the precursor types, reaction time and amount of glycine were critically investigated in this synthesis. The as-prepared PtCoRh HBNAs displayed outstanding electrocatalytic activity and improved stability towards ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in 1 M KOH electrolyte, whose mass/specific activities were 1.75 A mg –1 /4.03 mA cm –2 and 0.98 A mg –1 /2.34 mA cm –2 , respectively, which were remarkably higher than those of commercial Pt/C (0.85 A mg –1 /4.03 mA cm –2 and 0.47 A mg –1 /0.89 mA cm –2 ). This study provides some novel guidelines to fabricate advanced multimetallic electrocatalysts for practical applications in direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs).