Synergistic effect for enhancing reactivity of hydrogen evolution and ethylene glycol oxidation reactions by anchoring isolated-Pt nanoparticles on high-indexed Au concave nanocrystals

Constructing heterointerface by incorporating two/multi-functional components has been considered an effective strategy for optimizing chemisorption behaviors between the active sites and reactants or intermediates, thus achieving the enhanced catalytic performance of electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and ethylene glycol electrooxidation reaction (EGOR). Inspired by this, a series of heterointerface structural Pt-around-Au (Pt_m^Au_TOH) nanomaterials with synergistic effect are constructed for HER and EGOR by loading the small Pt active entities on the high-indexed faceted Au trisoctahedron (TOH). Among them, the optimal Pt_0.11^Au_TOH catalyst with more isolated-Pt entities exhibits outstanding HER performance with an overpotential of only 39 mV to achieve 10 mA/cm², and displays higher activity for EGOR with 4.15 mA/cm² specific activity as well as excellent anti-CO poisoning ability. Compared with other-prepared catalysts and the state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst, the enhanced catalytic activity of Pt_0.11^Au_TOH catalyst are attributed to the unique structural properties including ultrafine nanoparticles, higher density of available exposed active sites, as well as optimal heterointerface effect, synergistic effect between the Pt entities and high-index facets Au supports. This work provides a novel perspective for the design promising multi-functional catalysts with enhanced performance for practical applications in energy conversions.