Controlled synthesis of Pd–Pt alloy nanohypercubes under microwave irradiation

Pd-Pt alloy hypercubic nanostructures were successfully fabricated by reducing Pd and Pt precursors simultaneously in a one step process under microwave irradiation for only 100 s without using any sacrificial templates. Together with the use of tetraethylene glycol (TEG) as both a solvent and a reducing agent, the presence of KI was critical to the formation of Pd-Pt alloy nanohypercubes. The as-prepared Pd-Pt alloy nanohypercubes improved the electrocatalytic activities.