A General Approach to the Size- and Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Platinum Nanoparticles and Their Catalytic Reduction of Oxygen†
The work was supported by NSF/DMR 0606264, a Brown University Research Seed Fund and a scholarship from Hitachi Maxell, Ltd.
Graphical Abstract
Catalytic cobblestones: Monodisperse platinum nanoparticles were prepared with controlled sizes (3–7 nm) and shapes (polyhedron, truncated cube, or cube). The cubic nanoparticles are a much more active cathode catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction: the current density J from 7 nm cubes is four times that of the other shapes (see picture), indicating great potential for fuel cell applications.