Atmospheric microplasma based binary Pt₃Co nanoflowers synthesis

The atmospheric microplasma in the gas-liquid phase technique serves as a new potential efficient and green catalyst preparation technique to fabricate nanomaterials. Due to the presence of diverse reactive species, this technique can promote rapid complex reactions in solutions, which are typically sluggish in traditional chemical processes. Here, atmospheric microplasma induced liquid chemistry (AMILC) is applied to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) binary Pt₃Co nanoflowers. Nano-architectures of Pt₃Co bimetals (2D nanosheets and 3D nanoflowers) can be formed by tuning the initial cobalt molar concentration in the solution. 3D nanoflowers show a 'nano-bouquet' like nanostructure with Co-oxide forming leaves and Pt₃Co forming waxberries. 3D nanoflowers show promising electrocatalytic behavior towards ethanol and glucose sensing in alkaline condition. Additionally, AMILC takes less synthesis duration (∼10 min) without hazardous chemicals for Pt₃Co bimetal nanostructure preparation compared to conventional chemical approaches (>2 h), indicating that AMILC is a potential candidate with better energy efficiency, lower carbon footprint and green plasma chemistry process for 3D nanostructure material synthesis in catalyst applications.