Synthesis of Metastable Ternary Pd-W and Pd-Mo Transition Metal Carbide Nanomaterials

Research and catalytic testing of platinum group transition metal carbides have been extremely limited due to a lack of reliable, simple synthetic approaches. Powder samples have been reported to phase separately above 1%, and only thin-film samples have been reported to have appreciable amounts of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: James M. Thode, Daniel P. Harris, Cheng Wan, Brian M. Leonard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-11-01
Series:Molecules
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/21/6650
Description
Summary:Research and catalytic testing of platinum group transition metal carbides have been extremely limited due to a lack of reliable, simple synthetic approaches. Powder samples have been reported to phase separately above 1%, and only thin-film samples have been reported to have appreciable amounts of precious metal doping. Herein, we demonstrated, through the simple co-precipitation of Pd and W or Mo precursors and their subsequent annealing, the possibility to readily form ternary carbide powders. During the investigation of the Pd-W ternary system, we discovered a new hexagonal phase, (PdW)<sub>2</sub>C, which represents the first non-cubic Pd ternary carbide. Additionally, the solubility of Pd in the Pd-W-C and Pd-Mo-C systems was increased to 24 and 32%, respectively. As a potential application, these new materials show an enhanced activity for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) compared to industrial Pd/C.
ISSN:1420-3049