Mesoporous single crystal-like Y2O3 nanocubes have been prepared through a coordination-based self- assembly process. Firstly, a uniform nanocube-like Y-lysine precursor was simply prepared with hydrothermal treatment. After the simple thermal treatment process, nanocube-shaped yttrium oxides with the morphology inherited from the Y-lysine precursor were successfully prepared. The phase, morphology, size and crystalline structure were well characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. N2 adsorption-desorption demonstrates the mesoporous characteristics of the Y2O3 nanocubes, showing a relatively high surface area of 60 m^2/g.
Pt：Pd：Co ternary alloy nanoparticles were synthesized by sodium borohydride reduction under nitrogen, and were supported on carbon black as catalysts for methanol and formic acid electro-oxidation. Compared with Pt0.65C00.35/C, Pt/C, Pd0.65C00.35/C, and Pd/C catalyst, Pt0.35Pd0.35Co0.30/C exhibited relatively high durability and strong poisoning resistance, and the Pt-mass activity was 3.6 times higher than that of Pt/C in methanol oxidation reaction. Meanwhile, the Pt0.35Pd0.35Co0.30/C exhibited excellent activity with higher current density and higher CO tolerance than that of Pt0.6sCo0.35/C, Pt/C, Pd0.65C00.35/ C, and Pd/C in formic acid electro-oxidation.
