Tailored Palladium–Platinum Nanoconcave Cubes as High Performance Catalysts for the Direct Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide

To obtain high catalytic properties, finely modulating the electronic structure and active sites of catalysts is important. Herein, we report the design and economical synthesis of Pd@Pt core–shell nanoparticles for high productivity in the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. Pd@Pt core–shell nanoparticles with a partially covered Pt shell on a Pd cube were synthesized using a simple direct seed-mediated growth method. The synthesized Pd@Pt core–shell nanoparticles were composed of high index faceted Pt on the corners and edges, while the Pd–Pt alloy was located on the terrace area of the Pd cubes. Because of the high-indexed Pt and Pd–Pt alloy sites, the synthesized concave Pd@Pt7 nanoparticles exhibited both high H2 conversion and H2O2 selectivity compared with Pd cubes.