Worm-like PtCux alloys oriented by pyrolyzed alginic acid sodium with high performance in methanol electrooxidation

Worm-like PtCu x alloys were synthesized through the co-reduction of H 2 PtCl 6 and CuCl 2 in ethylene glycol under the orientation of pyrolyzed alginic acid sodium (PA), in order to disclose the growth mechanism of different metallic compounds. Through the characterizations of FTIR, Raman, XRD , XPS , TEM , etc., it illustrates that with the orientation of oxygen-containing functional groups in the support PA, the preferentially reduced Pt clusters accelerate the formation of metallic Cu clusters and then worm-like bimetallic PtCu x alloys are generated with plenty of surface defects . The synthesized PtCu 3 /PA exhibits the highest content of metallic Pt 0 (67.11 at%), the average width about 2.19 nm, the lattice strain of −1.18%, as well as the excellent performance for methanol electrooxidation . It has the best CO tolerance ability and the optimal mass activity of 1.922 A mg Pt −1 , which is more than four times of the commercial Pt/C. This work discloses an intriguing growth pathway of PtCu x nanoparticles but also a facile route to synthesize bimetallic alloys with more electrocatalytic activity .