Screw Thread-Like Platinum-Copper Nanowires Bounded with High Index Facets for Efficient Electrocatalysis

Introducing high-index facets into nanocrystals (NCs) is an effective way for boosting the electrocatalytic intrinsic activity. However, the established NCs with high index facets usually have a big diameter, which makes them exhibit a very limited surface area, thus finally limited mass activity. To embody the advantage of high-index facets in enhancing electrocatalysis well, the better nanostructures should meet the requirement of both high surface area and high-density high-index facets. Herein, we report our important advances in making the unique three-dimensional screw thread-like platinum copper (Pt-Cu) alloy nanowires (NWs) with high-density high-index facets and controlled composition. Such special NWs with a high surface area of 46.90 m(2) g(-1) exhibit much better performance than the PtCu nanoparticles (NPs) in alcohol electrooxidations. This work opens a new way for maximizing the electrocatalytic performance by introducing high-index facets into high-surface-area stable bimetallic NWs.Young Thousand Talented Program; National Natural Science Foundation of China [21571135]; Soochow University; Peking University; Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD); National Basic Research Program of China [2016YFB0100200]SCI(E)EIPubMedARTICLEguosj@pku.edu.cn; hxq006@suda.edu.cn85037-50431