Pd-Core-Based Core–Shell Nanoparticles for Catalytic and Electrocatalytic Applications

Abstract

Core–shell nanocatalysts have sparked great attention in the last decades, which derives from their multiple possibilities of composition, morphologies, and atomic arrangements, as well as from the enhanced performance usually achieved compared with the traditional alloy catalysts. Due to the importance of Pd in catalysis, the present Chapter aims at summarizing recent studies on Pd-core-based nanocatalysts by recapitulating representative investigations on Pd@oxide and Pd@metal architectures. The focus has been paid to the properties of the shell, in terms of composition, thickness, porosity, functionalization, as well as on their impact on the final catalytic behaviour. The applicability of such core–shell catalysts in numerous catalytic and electrocatalytic reactions has also been herein emphasized while exemplifying their use in important applications (e.g. selective hydrogenations, synthesis of hydrogen peroxide, oxidation of methane, methanol and formic acid, Suzuki-Miyaura reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, and solar-driven photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, among other important reactions).