Self-Supported Composition-Tunable Au/PtPd Core/Shell Tri-Metallic Nanowires for Boosting Alcohol Electrooxidation and Suzuki Coupling

Graphical Bond breaking and bond making : Au/Pd 63 Pt 37 nanowires are prepared in a one-pot, two-step synthesis. The tri-metallic nanowires are an excellent bi-functional catalyst, capable of electrochemically catalyzing ethanol oxidation (C−C bond breaking) to output electric energy and chemically catalyzing Suzuki coupling (C−C bond formation) to produce new materials. Tri-metallic nanowire catalysts combine the synergistic effect of multiple metals with the geometrical effect of nanowires, exhibiting better catalytic performance than composition-equivalent nanospherical catalysts. However, tri-metallic nanowires are not easily produced directly because of the participation of multiple precursors and the difficulty of selecting capping agents. Herein, we develop a one-pot, two-step synthetic strategy, producing tri-metallic Au/PdPt core/shell nanowires. Moreover, the PdPt shell is an alloy composed of nanoparticles, and its Pd : Pt atomic ratio is easily adjusted by controlling reaction time. The formation of Au/PdPt nanowires is attributed to the initial formation of Au/Pd core/shell nanowire and subsequent galvanic replacement between Pd shell and PtCl 6 2− . As-prepared Au/PdPt nanowires show composition- and structure-dependent catalytic activity and durability for the electrooxidation of methanol and ethanol, and the Suzuki coupling reaction. Optimized Au/Pd 63 Pt 37 nanowire, due to its proper Pd : Pt atomic ratio and porosity of the PdPt shell, exhibits excellent catalytic activity and durability towards methanol and ethanol electrooxidation, ∼18 and 11 times in the specific activity better than that of commercial state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst, respectively. Moreover, Au/Pd 63 Pt 37 nanowire shows the superior catalytic performance in Suzuki coupling reaction, ∼96 % at yield, far better than commercial state-of-the-art Pd/C catalyst.