Facial Synthesis of PtM (M = Fe, Co, Cu, Ni) Bimetallic Alloy Nanosponges and Their Enhanced Catalysis for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Constructing electrocatalysts with enhanced activity and stability is necessary due to the increasing demands of the fuel cell industry. This work demonstrates a facile approach to synthesize well-defined three-dimensional (3D) PtM (M = Fe, Co, Cu, Ni) bimetallic alloy nanosponges (BANs) in the presence of Al. Significantly, with the aid of Al, the as-prepared BANs exhibit greatly enhanced electrochemistry catalytic activity in an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and PtFe BANs appear the best ORR property among the four BANs and commercial Pt/C catalysts. This work may provide a universal approach for convenient and large-scale fabrication of porous bimetallic nanocatalysts, thus providing promising potential application as an efficient cathodic component in fuel cells for industrial production