Ultrafine Pt nanoparticles loaded on ceria (CeO2) are promising nanostructured catalysts for many important reactions. However, such catalysts often suffer from thermal instability due to coarsening of Pt nanoparticles at elevated temperatures, especially for those with high Pt loading, which leads to severe deterioration of catalytic performances. Here, a facile strategy is developed to improv...

Absorbed hydrogen can dramatically increase hydrogenation activity of Pd nanoparticles and was predicted to do so also for Pt. This calls for investigations of the energetic stability of absorbed H in Pd and Pt using nanoparticle models as realistic as possible, i.e., (i) sufficiently large, (ii) supported, and (iii) precovered by hydrogen. Herein, hydrogen absorption is studied in MgO(100)-sup...

Metallic nanoparticles of Au, Pt and Pt/Au have been synthesized using a chemical reduction approach. The structural characterization of these metallic nanoparticles has been carried out using conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) techniques. HR-TEM images of Pt nanoparticles reveal their fcc-like structures, in the [10...

In this thesis, a generic method was developed for surface modification of nanoparticles (NP) with silica shell using Stöber method. Nanoparticles synthesized from nonhydrolytic solvents such as various ethers were first surface activated with a silane-based poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Because of the amphiphilicity of PEG moiety, these nanoparticles could be easily transferred from hydrophobic...

Taming interfacial electronic effects on Pt nanoparticles modulated by their concomitants has emerged as an intriguing approach to optimize Pt catalytic performance. Here, we report Pt nanoparticles assembled on vacancy-abundant hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets and their use as a model catalyst to embrace an interfacial electronic effect on Pt induced by the nanosheets with N-vacancies and B-...

Dealloyed Pt bimetallic core-shell catalysts derived from low-Pt bimetallic alloy nanoparticles (e.g, PtNi3 ) have recently shown unprecedented activity and stability on the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under realistic fuel cell conditions and become today's catalyst of choice for commercialization of automobile fuel cells. A critical step toward this breakthrough is to control thei...

Catalytic and optical properties can be coupled by combining different metals into nanoscale architectures in which both the shape and the composition provide fine-tuning of functionality. Here, discrete, small Pt nanoparticles (diameter = 3-6 nm) were grown in linear arrays on Au nanoprisms, and the resulting structures are shown to retain strong localized surface plasmon resonances. Multidime...

The microwave-assisted nanocomposite synthesis of metal nanoparticles on graphene or graphite oxide was introduced in this research. With microwave assistance, the Pt nanoparticles on graphene/graphite oxide were successfully produced in the ionic liquid of 2-hydroxyethanaminium formate [HOCH2CH2NH3][HCO2]. On graphene/graphite oxide, the sizes of Pt nanoparticles were about 5 to 30 nm from tra...

Conductive and porous polythiophene (PTh) films, which are used as host matrices for Pt and Pt/Pd nanoparticles, are synthesized electrochemically. PTh films containing nanometre-sized Pt and Pt/Pd bimetallic particles are electro synthesized on an indium tin oxide (ITO) glass plate by voltammetric cycling between –0.1 to +1V (Vs Ag/AgCl / 2M NaCl). The ensuing PTh electrode, modified with nano...

We have successfully produced bimetallic PtNi alloy nanoparticles on poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA)-modified graphene nanosheets (PtNi/PDDA-G) by the “one-pot” hydrothermal method. The size of PtNi alloy nanoparticles is approximately 2–5 nm. The PDDA-modified graphene nanosheets (PDDA-G) provides an anchored site for metal precursors; hence, the PtNi nanoparticles could be easi...