Facile electrochemical synthesis, using microemulsions with ionic liquid, of highly mesoporous CoPt nanorods with enhanced electrocatalytic performance for clean energy

• Highly mesoporous CoPt nanorods for electro-oxidation of methanol in fuel cells.
• Much better performance than usual platinum catalysers.
• A facile electrochemical approach of synthesis of highly mesoporous nanorods.
• Microemulsions containing ionic liquids as synthesis medium of the nanostructures.

We have established a facile and generalizable electrochemical synthesis of metallic mesoporous nanorods in the nanochannels of commercial polycarbonate membranes using microemulsions containing ionic liquids. Herein, we report the preparation of magnetic CoPt nanorods with various meso or nanopores distributions, depending on the microemulsion type (ionic liquid –in-water (IL/W), bicontinuous (β) or water-in-ionic liquid (W/IL)). The synthesized porous nanorods show a much enhanced electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation in comparison with compact Pt nanorods (up to 12 times) or Pt/C electrocatalyst (Pt nanoparticles or commercial black platinum). Therefore, the synthesized CoPt mesoporous nanorods could be excellent catalysts in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC's), as they have high surface areas, large pore volumes and high corrosion stability, and they exhibit promising catalytic properties.

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