Facile Surfactant-Free Synthesis of Composition-Tunable Bimetallic PtCu Alloy Nanosponges for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications

Sponge-like metal nanomaterials have been paid great attention due to their unique structure for wide applications in hydrogen storage, filtration, sensors, heterogeneous catalysis, and fuel cells. Here, we first use a facile, bottom-up method to successfully prepare composition-tunable PtCu alloy nanosponges constructed with sub-4.5 nm particle building blocks. Due to the porous structure, structure defects, and synergetic effect of Pt and Cu, the PtCu alloy nanosponges exhibit good electrocatalytic performances towards methanol oxidation. Compared with pure Pt nanosponges, the specific/mass activity on PtCu2 alloy nanosponges is 5.84/2.93 times that on pure Pt nanosponges. Furthermore, the stability and reactivation ability of PtCu alloy nanosponges are also superior to pure Pt nanosponges.