One-step CO assisted synthesis of hierarchical porous PdRuCu nanosheets as advanced bifunctional catalysts for hydrogen evolution and glycerol oxidation

Abstract

Pd-based catalysts have received wide attention due to their outstanding anti-CO poisoning property, whereas the structural instability limits their application. The hierarchical porous PdRuCu nanosheets (HP PdRuCu NSs) with large electrochemically active surface area, abundant active sites, and stable structures are synthesized through continuous access to CO bubbles. HP PdRuCu NSs exhibit excellent hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic activity with an ultralow overpotential of 25 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and a Tafel slope of 87.5 mV dec−1 in alkaline·media. Meanwhile, the peak mass activity and specific activity of HP PdRuCu NSs for glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) are 1083 mA mg−1Pd and 38.8 A m−2, respectively, superior to that of PdRu nanosheets (PdRu NSs), Pd nanosheets (Pd NSs), and commercial Pd black. The introduction of Ru and Cu atoms facilitates the C–C bond cleavage and the complete oxidation of glycerol to CO2, as well as the accelerated oxidation/removal of the poisonous COads in between.