Lattice-governed electrochemical catalysis: Pd-Rh nanoboxes synthesized via control of metal migration

摘要

Developing the synthesis of more sophisticated nanostructuresncomprising more than one late transition metal broadens the librarynof materials available in the quest to find suitable heterogeneousncatalysts. The synthesis of well-defined multi-metal nanoparticlesncontaining Rh element remains a challenge because of the element’snpropensity toward random island and dendrite growth. Herein wenreport a wet chemistry method to synthesize the Pd-Rhnheterogeneous nanoboxes and to fine tune their structures at atomicnlevel. The structures of the nanoboxes were characterized by electronnmicroscopy and a metal migration mechanism for their formationnwas proposed. The surfaces of nanoboxes were examined bynelectrochemical catalysis. We reveal that both lattice strain from thennanoscale separation of metal phases and element composition of ourncomplex nanostructures govern the catalytic behavior.