Ionic liquid assisted synthesis of palladium nanoclusters for highly efficient formaldehyde oxidation

Abstract

The use of Ionic Liquids (ILs) to enhance the electrocatalytic activity of metal nanoparticles has garnered sustained research interest. However, current strategies involving ionic liquids do not exploit their use and advantages in chemical synthesis of metal nanoparticles. Herein, we demonstrate a straightforward method, which combines the advantages of ILs in nanoparticle synthesis with the potentials of ILs in electrocatalysis, for the synthesis of Pd nanoclusters for electrochemical oxidation of formaldehyde. This method relies on the use of 1-(2′-aminoethyl)-3-methyl-imidazolum tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid as stabilizers to directly generate Pd nanoclusters with average sizes of 1.8 ± 0.3 nm in a reaction medium consisting of water and methanol at room temperature. The electrochemical measurements prove that the ionic liquid-assisted Pd nanoclusters have mass-normalized activity approximately 7 times than that of commercial Pd/C catalysts for the oxidation of formaldehyde.