Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 9021-9025 (VIP)
Excavated polyhedral noble metal materials, which are built by orderly assembling of ultrathin nanosheets, have both large surface area and well-defined facets, and therefore could be promising candidate in diverse important applications. Herein, excavated cubic Pt-Sn alloy nanocrystals (NCs) constructed by 12 nanosheets with {110} facets were fabricated by a simple co-reduction method with the assistance of the surface regulator polyvinylpyrrolidone. Besides, the shape evolution from {110} exposed excavated cubes to {100} exposed cubes has been achieved. The specific surface area of excavated cubic Pt-Sn NCs could be comparable to that of commercial Pt black despite their larger particle size. The excavated cubic Pt-Sn NCs exhibited more superior electro-catalytic activities both in specific area current density and mass current density towards methanol oxidation than Pt black and Pt-Sn NCs with {100} facets.
