Ternary PtZrNi nanorods for efficient multifunctional electrocatalysis towards oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation

Pt-based alloys with precise structure and composition design have been considered to be effective and robust novel electrocatalysts for fuel cells. Whereas, the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and low intrinsic activity of Pt limited their real application on a large scale. Herein, a novel ternary PtZrNi nanorods (PtZrNi NRs) was synthesized via a facile wet-chemical method to achieve high electrocatalytic performance for both ORR and alcohol oxidation reaction owing to the synergism of chosen three elements and prominent one-dimensional morphology. Specifically, the PtZrNi NRs show enhanced mass and specific activities of 0.755 A mgPt-1 and of 0.97 mA/cm2 at 0.9 VRHE towards ORR in acidic media, which are 4.7 and 4.4 times of those of commercial Pt/C, respectively. Additionally, in alkaline media, the PtZrNi NRs also exhibit superior ORR mass and specific activities of 3.216 A mgPt-1and 4.13 mA/cm2, enhanced by 34.6 and 31.3 times compared with those of commercial Pt/C, respectively. The PtZrNi NRs retain the nanorod shape well without agglomeration after an accelerated durability test (20000 cycles). This work may offer a new perspective for engineering high-performance Pt-based electrocatalysts for commercial fuel cells.