Issue 3, 2017

Why conclusions from platinum model surfaces do not necessarily lead to enhanced nanoparticle catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Abstract

Experiments on model surfaces commonly help in identifying the structural sensitivity of catalytic reactions. Nevertheless, their conclusions do not frequently lead to devising superior “real-world” catalysts. For instance, this is true for single-crystal platinum electrodes and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), an important reaction for sustainable energy conversion. Pt(111) is substantially enhanced by steps, reaching a maximum at short terrace lengths of 3–4 atoms. Conversely, regular platinum nanoparticles with similar undercoordinated defects are less active than Pt(111) and their activity increases alongside the terrace-to-defect ratio. We show here that a model to design ORR active sites on extended surfaces can also be used to solve this apparent contradiction and provide accurate design rules for nanoparticles. Essentially, only surfaces and nanostructures with concave defects can surpass the activity of Pt(111), whereas convex defects are inactive. Importantly, only the latter are present in regular nanoparticles, which is why we design various concave nanoparticles with high activities.

Graphical abstract: Why conclusions from platinum model surfaces do not necessarily lead to enhanced nanoparticle catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
27 10 2016
Accepted
06 12 2016
First published
06 12 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 2283-2289

Why conclusions from platinum model surfaces do not necessarily lead to enhanced nanoparticle catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction

F. Calle-Vallejo, M. D. Pohl, D. Reinisch, D. Loffreda, P. Sautet and A. S. Bandarenka, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 2283 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC04788B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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