Ultra-Small Platinum Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Sub-50 nm Hollow Titania Nanospheres for Low-Temperature Water–Gas Shift Reaction

Ultra-small platinum nanoparticles loaded over titania is a promising catalyst for the low-temperature water–gas shift (WGS) reaction and shows the potential to work in a mobile hydrogen fuel cell system. Their precise size engineering (<3 nm) and reliable stabilization remain challenging. To address these issues, we report a reverse-micelle synthesis approach, which affords uniform ultra-small platinum nanoparticles (tunable in ∼1.0–2.6 nm) encapsulated in hollow titania nanospheres with a shell thickness of only ∼3–5 nm and an overall diameter of only ∼32 nm. The Pt@TiO2 yolk/shell nanostructured catalysts display extraordinary stability and monotonically increasing activity with the decreasing size of the Pt nanoparticles in the WGS. The size-dependent variation in the electronic property of the Pt nanoparticles and the reducible oxide encapsulation that prevents the Pt nanoparticles from sintering are ascribed as the main reasons for the excellent catalytic performance.