Stability of porous platinum nanoparticles: Combined in situ TEM and theoretical study

Porous platinum nanoparticles provide a route for the development of catalysts that use less platinum without sacrificing catalytic performance. Here, we examine porous platinum nanoparticles using a combination of in situ transmission electron microscopy and calculations based on a first-principles-parametrized thermodynamic model. Our experimental observations show that the initially irregular morphologies of the as-sythesized porous nanoparticles undergo changes at high temperatures to morphologies having faceted external surfaces with voids present in the interior of the particles. The increasing size of stable voids with increasing temperature, as predicted by the theoretical calculations, shows excellent agreement with the experimental findings. The results indicate that hollow-structured nanoparticles with an appropriate void-to-total-volume ratio can be stable at high temperatures.