A one-pot gold seed-assisted synthesis of gold/platinum wire nanoassemblies and their enhanced electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of oxalic acid.

Three-dimensional (3D) noble metal nanoassemblies composed of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires have been attracting much interest due to the unique physical and chemical properties of 1D nanowires as well as the particular interconnected open-pore structure of 3D nanoassemblies. In this work, well-defined Au/Pt wire nanoassemblies were synthesized by using a facile NaBH4 reduction method in the presence of a branched form of polyethyleneimine (PEI). A study of the growth mechanism indicated the morphology of the final product to be highly related to the molecular structure of the polymeric amine. Also, the preferred Pt-on-Pt deposition contributed to the formation of the 1D Pt nanowires. The Au/Pt wire nanoassemblies were functionalized with PEI at the same time that these nanoassemblies were synthesized due to the strong N-Pt bond. The chemically functionalized Au/Pt wire nanoassemblies exhibited better electrocatalytic activity for the electro-oxidation of oxalic acid than did commercial Pt black.