Crystal-Phase-Selective Etching of Heterophase Au Nanostructures

Faisal Saleem, Guangyao Liu, Guigao Liu, Bo Chen, Qinbai Yun, Yiyao Ge, An Zhang, Xixi Wang, Xichen Zhou, Gang Wang, Lingwen Liao, Zhen He, Lujiang Li, Hua Zhang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
11 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Selective oxidative etching is one of the most effective ways to prepare hollow nanostructures and nanocrystals with specific exposed facets. The mechanism of selective etching in noble metal nanostructures mainly relies on the different reactivity of metal components and the distinct surface energy of multimetallic nanostructures. Recently, phase engineering of nanomaterials (PEN) offers new opportunities for the preparation of unique heterostructures, including heterophase nanostructures. However, the synthesis of hollow multimetallic nanostructures based on crystal-phase-selective etching has been rarely studied. Here, a crystal-phase-selective etching method is reported to selectively etch the unconventional 4H and 2H phases in the heterophase Au nanostructures. Due to the coating of Pt-based alloy and the crystal-phase-selective etching of 4H-Au in 4H/face-centered cubic (fcc) Au nanowires, the well-defined ladder-like Au@PtAg nanoframes are prepared. In addition, the 2H-Au in the fcc-2H-fcc Au nanorods and 2H/fcc Au nanosheets can also be selectively etched using the same method. As a proof-of-concept application, the ladder-like Au@PtAg nanoframes are used for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media, showing excellent performance that is comparable to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. © 2024 The Author(s). Small Methods published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2400430
JournalSmall Methods
Volume8
Issue number11
Online published6 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Nov 2024

Funding

F.S., G.L., Guigao Liu, and B.C. contributed equally to this work. H.Z. acknowledges the financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF Project No. 11301721, AoE/P\u2010701/20), ITC via the Hong Kong Branch of the National Precious Metals Material Engineering Research Center (NPMM), and the grants (Project No.1886921, 9678272, and 9610663) and Start\u2010Up Grant (Project No.9380100) from City University of Hong Kong. L.L. thanks for the support from the Hong Kong Scholars Program (Project No. XJ2019008).

Research Keywords

  • Au nanostructures
  • crystal phase engineering
  • heterophase
  • selective etching

Publisher's Copyright Statement

  • This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Crystal-Phase-Selective Etching of Heterophase Au Nanostructures'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this