Correlating 3D Surface Atomic Structure and Catalytic Activities of Pt Nanocrystals

Active sites and catalytic activity of heterogeneous catalysts is determined by their surface atomic structures. However, probing the structure at an resolution difficult, especially for solution ensembles nanocrystals, which consist particles with irregular shapes surfaces. Here, we constructed 3D maps coordination number (CN) generalized CN (CN_) individual atoms sub-3 nm Pt nanocrystals. Our results reveal that synthesized nanocrystals are enclosed islands nonuniform lead to complex structures, including a high ratio low-coordination atoms, reduced domain size low-index facets, various types exposed high-index facets. CN_ directly correlated activities assigned distinct local explains origin performance small in important reactions such as oxygen reduction CO electro-oxidation.