Morphology Regulation of Templating Materials for Modifying the Catalytic Performance of Pt Nanoparticles for Methanol Oxidation Reaction

The morphology regulation of nanomaterials is an effective approach to improve the intrinsic catalytic performance of Pt-based catalysts for the methanol oxidation reaction. Herein, three templating materials composed of Fe2P, CoP, and nitrogen-doped carbon (NDC) are designed and synthesized. By adding different surfactants, they presented separately flake-like, hydrangea-like, and sphere-like structures and were respectively named Fe2P-CoP-NDC(f), Fe2P-CoP-NDC(h), and Fe2P-CoP-NDC(s) templating materials. After depositing Pt nanoparticles, flake-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(f), hydrangea-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(h), and sphere-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(s) catalysts were successfully obtained. By specifically discussing the influence of the nanomaterial morphology on the size, dispersion, surface state, exposed crystal facets, and catalytic behavior of Pt nanoparticles, it can be found that the morphology regulation plays an extremely crucial role in improving the catalytic performance. Moreover, compared with flake-like and hydrangea-like nanocatalysts, the sphere-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(s) catalyst with an appropriate porous structure exhibits the best catalytic performance. The catalytic activity of the sphere-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(s) catalyst reaches 1292 mA·mg–1Pt in acidic media, surpassing that of the flake-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(f) and hydrangea-like Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(h) catalysts. Additionally, the Pt/Fe2P-CoP-NDC(s) catalyst also possesses better anti-CO poisoning ability and catalytic stability. This work elucidates the intrinsic mechanisms through which morphology regulation enhances the electrocatalytic performance over Pt nanoparticles and provides insights into the exploration of high-efficiency Pt-based nanocatalysts.