Simple one-pot synthesis of solid-core@porous-shell alloyed PtAg nanocrystals for the superior catalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution and glycerol oxidation.

In this work, solid-core@porous-shell alloyed PtAg nanocrystals (PtAg NCs) were fabricated via a simple one-pot co-reduction wet-chemical method on a large scale. Diprophylline (DPP) was employed as the stabilizing agent and shape-directing agent, without any surfactant, polymer, seed or template. The products were mainly analyzed by a series of characterization technique. The hierarchical architectures had enhanced stability and improved electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) in contrast with commercial available Pt/C and Pt black catalysts. For the prepared PtAg NCs catalyst, the Tafel slope is 40mVdec toward HER in 0.5M HSO, coupled with the specific activity and mass activity of 77.91mAcm and 1303mAmg toward GOR, respectively.