A general carbon monoxide-assisted strategy for synthesizing one-nanometer-thick Pt-based nanowires as effective electrocatalysts

To balance the Pt utilization and the durability is the key issue for developing Pt-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts, and constructing ultrathin one-dimensional (1D) structure provides a practical solution. Here, a facile CO-assisted strategy has been proposed for synthesizing PtFe nanowires (NWs) with an ultrathin diameter of one-nanometer and high aspect ratio for the first time, which demonstrates great universality and can be extended to a ternary system. The NWs are found to grow following an oriented attachment mechanism facilitated by the preferential adsorption and reducibility of CO . Based on composition regulation, PtFe NWs and PtFeCo NWs exhibit superior catalytic performance, of which the electrochemical active surface areas are extremely high, achieving 1.5 folds of that of Pt/C catalyst. Benefiting from the synergistic effect endowed by alloying and the ultrathin anisotropic structure, PtFe NWs and PtFeCo NWs show remarkable mass activity of 0.57 and 0.58 A mg -1 Pt , respectively, and the durability also meet the 2020 standard of DOE, holding great application potential.