Facile and Surfactant‐Free Routed Spherical Au@Pt Core–Shell–Satellite Nanoparticles as High‐Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation

The spherical Au@Pt core–shell–satellite nanoparticles (NPs) are fabricated via a facile, efficient, and surfactant‐free method of seed‐mediated growth, and the electrocatalytic performance toward the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) is systematically researched by cyclic voltammetry. Compared with commercial Pt/C, all the obtained Au@Pt NPs with such a core–shell–satellite structure exhibit greatly enhanced electrocatalytic activity and long‐term stability toward MOR. Among them, Au90@Pt10 NPs with less loading of Pt exhibit the most significantly enhanced electrocatalytic performance with a mass activity of 1.470 A mgPt−1, approximately 13 times that of commercial Pt/C (0.111 A mgPt−1) and specific activity (1.469 mA cm−2) approximately 9 times that of commercial Pt/C (0.157 mA cm−2). Au95@Pt5 NPs have the highest value of the oxidation current density (0.2615 mA cm−2), corresponding to 62.8% of its initial maximum value (0.4165 mA cm−2), showing higher stability at approximately 4000 s. Such a surfactant‐free synthesis technique of Au@Pt bimetallic NPs may be a simple method to prepare self‐supported bimetallic nanostructures, which is important to develop highly effective electrocatalysts for MORs. Spherical Au@Pt core–shell–satellite nanoparticles are successfully prepared through a simple, efficient, and surfactant‐free growth method. The uneven distribution of Pt on the Au surface exposes more active sites and a larger specific surface area. Au90@Pt10 NPs exhibit significantly enhanced electrocatalytic performance with a mass activity of 1.470 A mgPt−1, approximately 13 times that of commercial Pt/C (0.111 A mgPt−1).