A P-doped PtTe mesoporous nanotube electrocatalyst

Abstract

The design of active and stable electrocatalysts for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) plays a vital role in the large-scale commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells. Herein, one-dimensional P-doped PtTe nanotubes with uniform mesoporous shells (P-PtTe MNTs) have been synthesized using F127 and Te nanowires as the dual template and trioctylphosphine as the phosphorus dopant. The resultant P-PtTe MNTs with sufficient exposed surface atoms can improve the atom utilization of Pt. Moreover, the incorporation of P atoms into Pt lattices can tailor the electronic structure of Pt and induce a strong synergic effect, thus leading to highly active and durable performance for the MOR. This phosphorus doping is very valuable for controllable synthesis of various metal–nonmetal catalysts with desired morphologies.