Advanced low-dimensional PdAg networked nanochains for the superior alcohol electrocatalysis

Abstract

Advanced 1D materials have become the focus due to the enhanced structure durability than 0D nanoparticles (NPs). Unfortunately, the unique electrocatalysts with 0D-1D composite structure are rarely reported. Herein, the low-dimensional PdAg networked nanochains (NNCs) with diverse element composition assembled from a sequence of NPs were designed as efficient 0D-1D electrocatalysts toward the ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) and ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). The low-dimensional PdAg NNCs not only possess stronger structure stability than 0D NPs, but also endow catalysts with more abundant active sites than traditional 1D nanochains. Attributed to the synergistic electronic effect, abundant active sites and surface defects, the composition-optimized PdAg-2 NNCs behaved the optimal electrocatalytic activities, greatly surpassing most of reported studies. Benefiting from 0D-1D composite structure and stable networked nanochain feature, the PdAg-2 NNCs still remained higher current density after the 3600 s chronoamperometry (CA) experiment and without obvious decline through three consecutive CA tests compared to commercial Pd/C, revealing the remarkable stability. Meanwhile, the PdAg-2 NNCs exhibited the prominent anti-CO poisoning ability and the lowest onset oxidation potential, manifesting the enhanced reaction kinetics. This work fabricated a novel electrocatalyst with low-dimension composite structure, producing new guidelines for the synthesis of high-efficiency electrocatalysts.