Strongly Coupled Pt-Ni2 GeO4 Hybrid Nanostructures as Potential Nanocatalysts for CO Oxidation.

A facile and low-cost method has been developed to successfully fabricate 3D flower-like and sphere-like Ni2 GeO4 nanostructures with tunable sizes and shapes. It is found that the hard template, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) nanopsheres, is essential to the formation of the final products. The as-prepared nanostructures can serve as an outstanding support for Pt nanoparticles after surface modification with L-lysine. In the catalytic test of CO oxidation, Pt-Ni2 GeO4 nanoflowers exhibited much higher catalytic performance compared with Pt-Ni2 GeO4 nanospheres, representing a typical size-dependent catalytic property.