Facile fabrication of stable PdCu clusters uniformly decorated on graphene as an efficient electrocatalyst for formic acid oxidation

Abstract

Small-sized nanocrystals uniformly distributed on suitable supports are promising as active electrocatalysts due to their unique electronic structure and high accessible surface area. Herein, we report the synthesis of graphene supported PdCu nanoclusters with a uniform size of 2.3 nm via a facile one-pot solvothermal method. This nanohybrid exhibits much higher inherent catalytic activity and stability for formic acid oxidation in comparison to graphene supported Pd clusters and commercial Pd/C. The PdCu nanoclusters can maintain their original size and dispersity on graphene even after 200 CV cycles. This work offers an efficient low Pd-loading catalyst for formic acid oxidation, and the synthetic approach is of significance to preparing uniform metal-based clusters decorated on supports with superior catalytic properties for fuel cells and sensors.