Amorphization-Facilitated Synthesis of Pt2Bi2/Pt Heterojunction Nanorods for Highly Efficient Methanol Electrooxidation

Lijun Hu; Heyu Sui; Yan Wang; Yue Chen; Haixia Liu; Youzhi Yang; Li Zhai; Fang Cheng; Yuanmiao Sun; Xue-Jun Wu

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06107

Amorphization-Facilitated Synthesis of Pt₂Bi₂/Pt Heterojunction Nanorods for Highly Efficient Methanol Electrooxidation

Lijun Hu (Co-first Author)
, Heyu Sui (Co-first Author)
, Yan Wang
, Yue Chen
, Haixia Liu
, Youzhi Yang
, Li Zhai
, Fang Cheng^*
, Yuanmiao Sun^*
, Xue-Jun Wu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Chemistry

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

Abstract

To address the low atomic efficiency and CO poisoning susceptibility of Pt-based nanomaterials in methanol oxidation reactions (MOR), we develop a facile template-directed approach to heterogeneous Pt₂Bi₂/Pt nanorods (Pt₂Bi₂/Pt NRs) utilizing Bi₂S₃ NRs as a template. The formation of Pt₂Bi₂/Pt NRs is assisted by surface amorphization of Bi₂S₃ NRs, facilitating the subsequent Pt deposition and alloying process. Notably, Pt₂Bi₂/Pt NRs display a mass activity of 5.13 A mg_Pt^–1 for MOR, which is over five times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.98 A mg_Pt^–1), as well as greatly enhanced stability. In situ infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate that the electronic structure of Pt₂Bi₂/Pt NRs could modify the adsorption/desorption of reaction intermediates and facilitate MOR via a CO-free pathway, circumventing the typical CO poisoning observed in conventional Pt-based electrocatalysts. This study provides a synthetic route for rationally designing heterostructured electrocatalysts with superior performance. © 2026 American Chemical Society

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2630-2638
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nano Letters
Volume	26
Issue number	7
Online published	11 Feb 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06107
Publication status	Published - 25 Feb 2026

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22271142, 52373233, and 22371127) and the Guang Dong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2024A1515010679). We thank beamline BL14W1 and BL13SSW (Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility) for providing the beam time.

Research Keywords

Pt-based alloys
methanol oxidation reactions
surface amorphization
template-directed approach
heterojunctions

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10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06107

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@article{8f40f425734c438ba029d02acb2367e9,

title = "Amorphization-Facilitated Synthesis of Pt2Bi2/Pt Heterojunction Nanorods for Highly Efficient Methanol Electrooxidation",

abstract = "To address the low atomic efficiency and CO poisoning susceptibility of Pt-based nanomaterials in methanol oxidation reactions (MOR), we develop a facile template-directed approach to heterogeneous Pt2Bi2/Pt nanorods (Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs) utilizing Bi2S3 NRs as a template. The formation of Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs is assisted by surface amorphization of Bi2S3 NRs, facilitating the subsequent Pt deposition and alloying process. Notably, Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs display a mass activity of 5.13 A mgPt–1 for MOR, which is over five times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.98 A mgPt–1), as well as greatly enhanced stability. In situ infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate that the electronic structure of Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs could modify the adsorption/desorption of reaction intermediates and facilitate MOR via a CO-free pathway, circumventing the typical CO poisoning observed in conventional Pt-based electrocatalysts. This study provides a synthetic route for rationally designing heterostructured electrocatalysts with superior performance. {\textcopyright} 2026 American Chemical Society",

keywords = "Pt-based alloys, methanol oxidation reactions, surface amorphization, template-directed approach, heterojunctions",

author = "Lijun Hu and Heyu Sui and Yan Wang and Yue Chen and Haixia Liu and Youzhi Yang and Li Zhai and Fang Cheng and Yuanmiao Sun and Xue-Jun Wu",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

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doi = "10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06107",

language = "English",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Amorphization-Facilitated Synthesis of Pt2Bi2/Pt Heterojunction Nanorods for Highly Efficient Methanol Electrooxidation

AU - Hu, Lijun

AU - Sui, Heyu

AU - Wang, Yan

AU - Chen, Yue

AU - Liu, Haixia

AU - Yang, Youzhi

AU - Zhai, Li

AU - Cheng, Fang

AU - Sun, Yuanmiao

AU - Wu, Xue-Jun

PY - 2026/2/25

Y1 - 2026/2/25

N2 - To address the low atomic efficiency and CO poisoning susceptibility of Pt-based nanomaterials in methanol oxidation reactions (MOR), we develop a facile template-directed approach to heterogeneous Pt2Bi2/Pt nanorods (Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs) utilizing Bi2S3 NRs as a template. The formation of Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs is assisted by surface amorphization of Bi2S3 NRs, facilitating the subsequent Pt deposition and alloying process. Notably, Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs display a mass activity of 5.13 A mgPt–1 for MOR, which is over five times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.98 A mgPt–1), as well as greatly enhanced stability. In situ infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate that the electronic structure of Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs could modify the adsorption/desorption of reaction intermediates and facilitate MOR via a CO-free pathway, circumventing the typical CO poisoning observed in conventional Pt-based electrocatalysts. This study provides a synthetic route for rationally designing heterostructured electrocatalysts with superior performance. © 2026 American Chemical Society

AB - To address the low atomic efficiency and CO poisoning susceptibility of Pt-based nanomaterials in methanol oxidation reactions (MOR), we develop a facile template-directed approach to heterogeneous Pt2Bi2/Pt nanorods (Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs) utilizing Bi2S3 NRs as a template. The formation of Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs is assisted by surface amorphization of Bi2S3 NRs, facilitating the subsequent Pt deposition and alloying process. Notably, Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs display a mass activity of 5.13 A mgPt–1 for MOR, which is over five times higher than that of commercial Pt/C (0.98 A mgPt–1), as well as greatly enhanced stability. In situ infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations indicate that the electronic structure of Pt2Bi2/Pt NRs could modify the adsorption/desorption of reaction intermediates and facilitate MOR via a CO-free pathway, circumventing the typical CO poisoning observed in conventional Pt-based electrocatalysts. This study provides a synthetic route for rationally designing heterostructured electrocatalysts with superior performance. © 2026 American Chemical Society

KW - Pt-based alloys

KW - methanol oxidation reactions

KW - surface amorphization

KW - template-directed approach

KW - heterojunctions

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U2 - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06107

DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c06107

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 1530-6984

VL - 26

SP - 2630

EP - 2638

JO - Nano Letters

JF - Nano Letters

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ER -