One-Pot Synthesis of Hierarchical Flower-Like Pd-Cu Alloy Support on Graphene Towards Ethanol Oxidation

Abstract The synergetic effect of alloy and morphology of nanocatalysts play critical roles towards ethanol electrooxidation. In this work, we developed a novel electrocatalyst fabricated by one-pot synthesis of hierarchical flower-like palladium (Pd)-copper (Cu) alloy nanocatalysts supported on red...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jingyi Zhang, Anni Feng, Jie Bai, Zhibing Tan, Wenyao Shao, Yang Yang, Wenjing Hong, Zongyuan Xiao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2017-09-01
Series:Nanoscale Research Letters
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Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s11671-017-2290-7
Description
Summary:Abstract The synergetic effect of alloy and morphology of nanocatalysts play critical roles towards ethanol electrooxidation. In this work, we developed a novel electrocatalyst fabricated by one-pot synthesis of hierarchical flower-like palladium (Pd)-copper (Cu) alloy nanocatalysts supported on reduced graphene oxide (Pd-Cu(F)/RGO) for direct ethanol fuel cells. The structures of the catalysts were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS). The as-synthesized Pd-Cu(F)/RGO nanocatalyst was found to exhibit higher electrocatalytic performances towards ethanol electrooxidation reaction in alkaline medium in contrast with RGO-supported Pd nanocatalyst and commercial Pd black catalyst in alkaline electrolyte, which could be attributed to the formation of alloy and the morphology of nanoparticles. The high performance of nanocatalyst reveals the great potential of the structure design of the supporting materials for the future fabrication of nanocatalysts.
ISSN:1931-7573
1556-276X