Phase transfer catalysis: Synthesis of monodispersed FePt nanoparticles and its electrocatalytic activity

Using dibenzo-24-crown-8-ether (DB24C8) as phase transfer catalyst, the monodispersed iron–platinum (FePt) alloy nanoparticles with size of ∼17 nm were synthesized by reduction of H2PtCl6·6H2O and FeCl2·4H2O in the solvothermal system. The structure, magnetic property and electrocatalytic activity of FePt nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction system (XRD), vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) and CHI 820 electrochemical analyser (three electrodes system, the reference electrode is saturated calomel electrode (SCE), the counter electrode is platinum electrode and the glassy carbon electrode is used as working electrode (GCE)), respectively. The results show that the as-synthesized FePt nanoparticles have a chemically disordered fcc structure and can be transformed into chemically ordered fct structure after annealing treatment above 400 °C, simultaneously accompanying with the coercivity changed from 5 to 2400 Oe. CVs of 0.5 M H2SO4/0.5 M CH3OH on GCE modified with FePt nanoparticles monolayer illustrate that the as-synthesized FePt nanoparticles have strong electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of CH3OH in aqueous solution.