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Achieving Superior Electrocatalytic Performance by Surface Copper Vacancy Defects during Electrochemical Etching Process
Author(s) -
Guo Niankun,
Xue Hui,
Bao Amurisana,
Wang Zihong,
Sun Jing,
Song Tianshan,
Ge Xin,
Zhang Wei,
Huang Keke,
He Feng,
Wang Qin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.202002394
Subject(s) - vacancy defect , catalysis , density functional theory , electrochemistry , materials science , adsorption , copper , etching (microfabrication) , methanol , chemical engineering , nanowire , nanotechnology , crystallography , chemistry , computational chemistry , electrode , metallurgy , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , engineering
Vacancy defects of catalysts have been extensively studied and proven to be beneficial to various electrocatalytic reactions. Herein, an ultra‐stable three‐dimensional PtCu nanowire network (NNW) with ultrafine size, self‐supporting rigid structure, and Cu vacancy defects has been developed. The vacancy defect‐rich PtCu NNW exhibits an outstanding performance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), with a mass activity 14.1 times higher than for the commercial Pt/C catalyst (20 %.wt, JM), which is currently the best performance. The mass activity of the PtCu NNW for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is 17.8 times higher than for the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Density‐functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the introduction of Cu vacancies enhances the adsorption capacity of Pt atoms to the HO* intermediate and simultaneously weakens the adsorption for the O* intermediate. This work presents a facile strategy to assemble efficient electrocatalysts with abundant vacancy defects, at the same time, provides an insight into the ORR mechanism in acidic solution.