Ultrathin wavy nanowires of high-entropy alloy as cocktail solution in methanol oxidation reaction

Abstract

High entropy alloys (HEAs) with adjustable composition and diverse surface active sites show good catalytic performance of methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). However, the synthesis and morphology control of HEA remains a challenge. Herein, we use a fast co-reduction method to synthesize a series of ultrathin wavy nanowires (WNWs) with an average diameter of 3–5 ​nm, including Pt-based and Pd-based binary alloys, and HEA with different pairs of immiscible elements. The catalytic properties of PtPdAgCuNi WNWs show that the mass activity and stability of PtPdAgCuNi WNWs is higher than Pt and Pd WNWs. Meanwhile we explored the cocktail effect among high entropy alloy elements through annealing. The cocktail effect among the metal elements in PtPdAgCuNi WNWs provided more active sites with increased metal-metal interactions, thus improving the catalytic efficiency.