Rapid synthesis of PdCu nanosheets with enhanced electrocatalytic activity toward polyalcohol oxidation reaction

Abstract

Reasonable design of Pd-based catalysts with specific composition and morphology is of great importance for promoting the commercial application.of direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs). Recently, two-dimension (2D) with high density of defects and massive low-coordinated surface atom has become research highlights in the field of catalysis. Herein, we report a wet chemical method for synthesizing PdCu nanosheets with abundant wrinkles. The ultrathin two-dimensional structure endows catalysts plentiful catalytic active sites and large specific surface area, improving atomic utilization efficiency. The formation of bimetallic PdCu alloy structure leads to the adjustment of Pd electronic structure, resulting in lattice compression effect. Benefitting from the structural and compositional characteristics, PdCu nanosheets (NSs) exhibits excellent electrocatalytic performance for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) and glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) with the mass activity of 7031 mA mg−1/5117 mA mg−1, which is 4.4/3.9 times higher than that of commercial Pd/C catalysts. Furthermore, the remained mass activity of PdCu NSs is 3991/3851 mA mg−1 after the durability measurement for EGOR/GOR, which confirm PdCu NSs possesses superior stability. We believe that our synthetic strategy could provide robust reference for the development of high-performance eletrocatalysts.