Supportless oxygen reduction electrocatalysts of CoCuPt hollow nanoparticles

This paper describes a facile solution route to the synthesis of CoCuPt hollow nanoparticles that readily form chain-like structures in solution. The formation of porous CoCuPt nanostructure is through galvanic replacement with cobalt-containing cores as the templates. This approach does not require the further removal of templates and greatly simplifies the synthetic procedures. These porous CoCuPt nanoparticles can be used as supportless electrocatalysts that exhibit enhanced mass- and area-specific activities in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) over commercial Pt black catalysts. The highest ORR specific activity achieved so far for this ternary Pt-alloy catalyst is 0.37 mA cm-2 which is more than double that for Pt black.