title: Silver and gold icosahedra: one-pot water-based synthesis and their superior performance in the electrocatalysis for oxygen reduction reactions in alkaline media.
abstract: Much effort has gone into generating polyhedral noble metal nanostructures because of their superior electrocatalytic activities for fuel cells. Herein, we report uniform, high-yield icosahedral silver and gold nanoparticles by using a facile one-pot, seedless, water-based approach that incorporates polyvinyl pyrrolidone and ammonia. Electrocatalysis of the oxygen-reduction reaction was carried out in alkaline media to evaluate the performance of the icosahedral nanoparticles. They showed excellent stability and much higher electrocatalytic activity than the spherelike nanoparticles; they display a positive shift in reduction peak potential for O(2) of 0.14 and 0.05 V, while the reduction peak currents of the silver and gold icosahedra are 1.5- and 1.6-fold, respectively, better than the spherelike nanoparticles. More importantly, the icosahedral nanoparticles display electrocatalytic activities comparable with commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts. The facile preparation of icosahedral silver and gold nanoparticles and their superior performance in the oxygen reduction reaction render them attractive replacements for Pt as cathode electrocatalysts in alkaline fuel cells.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Anhui Laboratory of Molecular-Based Materials, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, PR China.
authors.forename: Long
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuai
authors.forename: Baoyou
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Shaozhen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yinchan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang