Hongpo's paper has been accepted for publication in Chemistry of Materials (IF 9.890). Congratulations for the excellent work!

Title: Ultrathin Pt-Ag Alloy Nanotubes with Regular Nanopores for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity

Authors: Hongpo Liu, Kai Liu, Ping Zhong, Jing Qi, Jihong Bian, Qikui Fan, Kui Ren, Haoquan Zheng, Lu Han, Yadong Yin, and Chuanbo Gao*

Link to the Publisher: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b03085

Abstract: While creating open nanostructures represents a popular strategy toward improved utilization efficiency of Pt-based catalysts for electrochemical reactions, the exposed facets should be precisely controlled for further enhancement in the catalytic activity. Here, we report a novel strategy to create regularly shaped nanopores in ultrathin nanotubes of bimetallic noble metals. By templating against Ag nanowires and then applying a thermal ripening process, we have successfully produced ultrathin (with a wall thickness of ~ 1 nm) Pt-Ag alloy nanotubes containing high-density well-defined rectangular nanopores and a collapsed double-layer structure. The resulting porous nanotubes expose {100} facets at the basal sides and {110} facets with step sites at the edges of the rectangular nanopores. The particu-lar surface structure and the bimetallic composition enable suppressed CO poisoning of the catalysts and consequent-ly enhanced electrocatalytic activity in the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The typical specific and mass activities are 6.63 mA cm^–2 and 2.08 mA μg^–1_Pt, respectively, in an acidic medium, superior to the commercial Pt/C and many previously reported catalysts. We believe this work opens new opportunities in the design of noble metal open nanostructures for enhanced performance in a broad range of catalytic applications.