Shape-controlled Synthesis of PdCu Nanocrystals for Formic Acid Oxidation

Abstract

Abstract A facile one-pot method for synthesizing different morphologies of PdCu nanocrystals (NCs) has been introduced. The morphologies of PdCu NCs can be controlled by tuning the amount of the single capping ligand of triphenylphosphine (TPP) in an organic solvent medium. Highly structured cubic, sphere, and sphere-like PdCu NCs were obtained in a sufficient amount, a small amount, and the absence of TPP, respectively. It is found that these PdCu NCs exhibit efficient catalytic activities for formic acid oxidation (FAO). The mass activities of these carbon-supported NCs follow the order of sphere PdCu/C > sphere-like PdCu/C > cubic PdCu/C at a potential of 0.2 V (vs. SCE). Among these NCs, the sphere PdCu/C catalyst exhibits the highest FAO activity, which is 1.7 times larger than that of commercial Pd/C catalyst at 0.2 V. Our results show that the surfactant loading can play a key role in the shape-controlled synthesis of PdCu nanocrystals for FAO.