METHOD FOR TREATING A SUPPORTED CATALYST

1 . A method for treating a supported catalyst, comprising:

establishing shell-removal conditions for a supported catalyst that includes nanoparticles of a catalyst material on a carbon support, the nanoparticles each comprise a platinum alloy core capped in an organic shell, and the shell-removal conditions include an elevated temperature and an inert gas atmosphere that is substantially free of oxygen; and

removing the organic shell from the platinum alloy core in the shell-removal conditions.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the elevated temperature of the shell-removal conditions is 220° C.-600° C.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the elevated temperature of the shell-removal conditions is about 270° C.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inert gas is selected from a group consisting of nitrogen, argon, and combinations thereof.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the removing of the organic shell includes thermal decomposition of the organic shell.

6 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the inert gas atmosphere is a mixture of at least two different kinds of inert gases and hydrogen.

7 . The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the mixture includes nitrogen, argon, and the hydrogen, and the hydrogen is present in an amount no greater than about 10 vol %.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising, after removing the organic shell, annealing the supported catalyst at an annealing temperature of 400° C.-1200° C.

9 . The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the annealing temperature is 700° C.-1000° C.

10 . The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the annealing temperature is 800° C.-1000° C.

11 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the platinum alloy catalyst consists of platinum and at least one alloy metal selected from a group consisting of iron, nickel, cobalt, iridium, chromium, molybdenum, palladium, rhodium, gold, copper and vanadium.

12 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising, prior to establishing the shell-removal conditions, forming the organic shells of the nanoparticles using a polyol process.

13 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the support is carbon black, carbides, oxides, boron doped diamond, and combination thereof.

14 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the support is unmodified carbon black, modified carbon black, graphitized carbon black, carbon nanotube, carbon nanowire, carbon fiber, and combination thereof.

15 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the organic shell is selected from a group consisting of oleylamine, oleic acid, thiol, polyacrylic acid, trimethylaluminum, tetraoctylammonium bromide, sodium dodecyl sulfate, acetic acid, cetryltrimethylammonium chloride, and combinations thereof.

16 . A method for treating a supported catalyst, comprising:

establishing shell-removal conditions for a supported catalyst that includes nanoparticles of a catalyst material on a carbon black support, the nanoparticles each comprise a platinum alloy core capped in an organic shell selected from a group consisting of oleylamine, oleic acid, and combinations thereof, the platinum alloy core includes platinum and at least one alloy metal selected from a group consisting of nickel, iron, cobalt, iridium, chromium, molybdenum, palladium, rhodium, gold, copper and vanadium, and the shell-removal conditions include an elevated temperature of higher than 220° C., and an inert gas atmosphere that is substantially free of oxygen;

removing the organic shell from the platinum alloy core in the shell-removal conditions; and

annealing the platinum alloy cores that remain after the removing of the organic shells at an annealing temperature of 400° C.-1200° C.

17 . The method as recited in claim 14 , further comprising, prior to establishing the shell-removal conditions, forming the organic shells of the nanoparticles using a polyol process.

18 . A method for treating a supported catalyst, comprising:

establishing shell-removal conditions for a supported catalyst that includes nanoparticles of a catalyst material on a carbon support, the nanoparticles each comprise a platinum alloy core capped in an organic shell, and the shell-removal conditions include an elevated temperature and an atmosphere that is substantially free of oxygen and is substantially inert with respect to the carbon support;

removing the organic shell from the platinum alloy core in the shell-removal conditions; and

annealing the platinum alloy core, after shell-removal, at a temperature of at least 400° C.

19 . A method for treating a supported catalyst, comprising:

establishing shell-removal conditions for a supported catalyst that includes nanoparticles of a catalyst material on a carbon black support, the nanoparticles each comprise a platinum alloy core capped in an organic shell selected from a group consisting of oleylamine, oleic acid, and combinations thereof, the platinum alloy core includes platinum and at least one alloy metal selected from a group consisting of nickel, iron, cobalt, iridium, chromium, molybdenum, palladium, rhodium, gold, copper and vanadium, and the shell-removal conditions include an elevated temperature of higher than 220° C., and an atmosphere that is substantially free of oxygen such that the atmosphere does not substantially decompose the carbon black support under the shell removal conditions;

removing the organic shell from the platinum alloy core in the shell-removal conditions; and

annealing the platinum alloy cores that remain after the removing of the organic shells at an annealing temperature of 400° C.-1200° C.