Synthesis of PtCu nanowires in nonaqueous solvent with enhanced activity and stability for oxygen reduction reaction

•Cu@CuPt core@shell nanowires were synthesized in organic solvent medium.•PtCu nanowires exhibit superior catalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction.•PtCu nanowires show much better durability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst.•Theoretical studies are used to understand the mechanism of enhanced ORR activity.

Pt-based core–shell electrocatalysts with one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure show a great opportunity to improve the catalytic activity and durability of pure Pt catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Here, we synthesize Cu@CuPt core@shell nanowires (NWs) with 1D nanostructure by using Cu NWs as templates in organic solvent medium. The ORR mass activity and specific activity of PtCu NWs are 0.216 A mgpt−1 and 0.404 mA cm−2 at 0.9 V, respectively, which are 3.1 and 3.7 times larger than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.07 A mgpt−1 and 0.110 mA cm−2, respectively). Theoretical studies suggest that the electronic effect of the Cu substrate on the Pt monolayer could be the main reason for the higher activity of PtCu NWs than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. In addition, the PtCu NWs show much better durability than the commercial Pt/C catalyst after stability test. It is expected that the as-synthesized PtCu NWs in organic solvent medium could be excellent candidates as high performance catalysts for ORR.