Ultrathin one-dimensional platinum-cobalt nanowires as efficient catalysts for the glycerol oxidation reaction.

Direct fuel cells are regarded as the most portable device for alleviating the problems of the energy dilemma and environmental disruption. Although direct fuel cells have a number of advantages, the lack of highly-efficient anode catalysts inhibits their wide application. To address this challenge, we report a facile one-pot method to fabricate a series of ultrathin platinum-cobalt (Pt-Co) nanowires with different proportions. The as-prepared catalysts all have one-dimensional ultrathin nanowire structures with high yields. Among all these catalysts, the ultrathin PtCo nanowires with optimized compositions, whose diameters are 1.8 nm on average, show the best catalytic activity for the glycerol oxidation reaction in alkaline conditions, and their mass and specific activities reach 4573.0 mA mg and 11.9 mA cm, which are 5.4 and 3.6 times higher than those of commercial Pt/C catalysts, respectively. The as-obtained PtCo nanowires are also the most durable nanowires according to long-term stability tests. This method may provide guidelines for the preparation of other Pt-based bimetallic nanowires, which could somewhat accelerate the development and commercialization of catalysts for fuel cells.