Highly stable Pt-Co nanodendrite in nanoframe with Pt skin structured catalyst for oxygen reduction electrocatalysis

A novel self-etched engineering of Pt-Co nanodendrite in nanoframe (Pt-Co ND-NF) synthesized through a simple one-pot approach, for the first-time. The modulation mechanism of Pt-Co ND-NF formation is established by investigating critical factors of adjusting: i) the water amount, ii) the ratio of mixed solvent oleylamine to oleic acid and iii) the amount of surfactant hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide. Besides, the formation process of Pt-Co ND-NF is carefully explored with reaction time progress, further confirming the state of Pt-Co nanoframe blockade on Pt-Co nanodendrite (ND). Pt-Co ND-NF exhibits improved catalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), in which mass activity (0.939 A mgPt−1) is much higher (∼500 %) than that of commercial Pt/C (0.187 A mgPt−1), respectively. Furthermore, Pt-Co ND-NF shows enhanced stability during the accelerated durability tests (ADTs) for 50,000 cycles. Pt-Co nanodendrites in nanoframe with Pt skin, create a novel protection with an external nanoframe (NF) and obtain a unique catalytic material Pt-Co ND-NF, which could provide promising ways for highly strengthening catalytic activity.