Fishbone-like platinum-nickel nanowires as an efficient electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation

Platinum (Pt)-based electrocatalyst with low Pt content and high electrocatalytic performance is highly desired in fuel cell applications. Herein, we demonstrated that platinum-nickel (Pt-Ni) nanowires with an average composition of PtNi3 and a fishbone structure can be readily synthesized and used as an efficient electrocatalyst toward methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The PtNi3 fishbone-like nanowires (PtNi3-FBNWs) present features such as richer Pt on the surface than in the bulk, high-index facets on the rough surface, and polyhedral facets at the ends of side chains. Such compositional and structural features could be determinative to the enhanced performance in the electrocatalysis of MOR. Compared with commercial 20% Pt/carbon black (Pt/C), the specific activity and mass activity of the PtNi3-FBNWs are enhanced by approximately 4.76 and 3.02 times, respectively. The stability of electrocatalysis is significantly improved as well. Such comprehensive enhancement indicates that the PtNi3-FBNWs would be a promising candidate toward MOR in fuel cells.