Controlling the morphology of platinum (Pt)-based nanomaterials is an effective strategy to enhance their catalytic performance for a given reaction. Here we report the syntheses of bimetallic Au-Pt nanomaterials with spherical or dendritic morphologies by a seed-mediated growth method. In this route, the gold (Au) nanoparticles are firstly prepared as seeds in oleylamine, which are subsequently seeded the growth of regular or dendritic Pt shells at different Au/Pt molar ratios. The electrochemical measurements show that the core-shell Au-Pt nanodendrites have better catalytic activity than that of core-shell Au-Pt nanoparticles for methanol oxidation reaction due to their abundant atomic steps, edges, and corner atoms in the branched Pt shells.
Surfactant-Free Monodispersed Pd Nanoparticles Template for Core-Shell Pd@PdPt Nanoparticles as Electrocatalyst towards Methanol Oxidation Reaction (MOR)