Artical Link: A selenium-mediated layer-by-layer synthetic strategy for multilayered multicomponent nanocrystals | Nature Synthesis
Ordered heterostructured nanocrystals with large compositional and
morphological diversity are important for many applications. However,
design of multicomponent nanostructures at the atomic level is difficult
due to the elusive nucleation and growth processes in a solution-phase
environment. Here we report a modular synthetic protocol that produces
ordered multilayered nanostructures with small particle size by
layer-by-layer growth. We introduce a selenium capping agent to hinder
self-assembly, aggregation and phase segregation of nanostructures, while
also sequencing the priority of metal atoms that migrate in the substrate
lattice according to different metal–selenium bonding strengths, leading
to a layer-by-layer growth for ordered nanostructures. The multilayered
multicomponent nanocrystals are demonstrated in an alkaline polymer
electrolyte fuel cell by using PtRuZn-SKE (SKE, selenium-mediated Kirkendall
effect) as the anodic hydrogen oxidation reaction catalyst, which can deliver
a high peak power density of 1.52 W cm−2 in H2–O2
and 1.12 W cm−2 in H2–air
(CO2-free) while operating at 600 mA cm−2 for 100 h. This generalizable
strategy provides a predictable synthetic pathway to complex nanocrystals.
