Hollow porous PtFe nanospheres prepared by cyanogel-derived strategy for formic acid oxidation

Abstract

Exploring efficient electrocatalysts for the formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR) through dehydrogenation pathway is important for the widespread use of direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs). The direct pathway, reactivity and stability of the FAOR can be enhanced by modulating the surface atomic composition and state, as well as the morphological structure of Pt-based catalysts. In this paper, we present a straightforward and mild cyanogel-derived method to prepare PtFe alloy nanospheres with hollow porous structure by using the K2PtCl4/K4Fe(CN)6 cyanogel as precursors. The fabricated hollow porous PtFe nanospheres exhibit enhanced dehydrogenation pathway and improved elecrocatalytic activity and stability in comparison with commercial Pt black catalyst owing to hollow porous structure with abundant active sites and synergistic effects between the alloy metals, inhibiting the formation of the toxic species COads. The cyanogel-derived synthetic strategy presented here has the potential to be applied for fabricating other multicomponent nanoalloys with satisfying morphology and excellent electrochemical performance.