Platinum Nanowires: Structural and catalytic evolution upon annealing temperature

Platinum nanowires (NWs) were prepared by electrodeposition in porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template and then annealed at 200 °C, 400 °C and 600 °C, respectively. Compared to the commercial carbon-supported Pt catalysts, all Pt NWs exhibited better electrocatalytic activities towards both methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The MOR activity of the Pt NWs increased dramatically as the annealing temperature (TA) increased, whereas the ORR activity followed the trend of ‘as-prepared’ >600 °C > 400 °C > 200 °C. This phenomenon should be attributed to the NWs surface rearrangement during the annealing process.