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Abstract
Precious metal nanoparticles, in particular palladium nanomaterials, show excellent catalytic properties and are key in the development of energy systems. For instance, ethanol fuel cells are promising devices for sustainable energy conversion, where Pd-based catalysts are key catalysts for the related ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). Pd is a limited resource; thus, a remaining challenge is the development of efficient and stable Pd-based catalysts. This calls for a deeper understanding of the Pd properties at the nanoscale. This knowledge can be gained in comparative studies of different Pd nanomaterials. However, such studies remain challenging to perform and interpret due to the lack of cross-studies using the same Pd nanomaterials as a reference. Here, as-prepared sub 3 nm diameter surfactant-free Pd nanoparticles supported on carbon are obtained by a simple approach. The as-prepared catalysts with Pd loading 10 and 30 wt % show higher activity and stability compared to commercially available counterparts for the EOR. Upon electrochemical testing, a significant size increase and loss of electrochemical active surface are observed for the as-prepared catalysts, whereas the commercial samples show an increase in the electrochemically active surface area and moderate size increase. This study shines light on the challenging comparison of different catalysts across the literature. Further advancement in Pd (electro)catalyst design will gain from including self-prepared catalysts. The simple synthesis detailed easily leads to suitable nanoparticles to be used as a reference for more systematic comparative studies of Pd catalysts across the literature.
Highlights
Precious metals (PMs) are key materials in a wide range of applications such as chemical production [1], energy conversion [2,3,4], automotive applications [5], medicine [6,7], air [8], or water treatment [9]
We recently addressed the related challenges by developing a simple synthesis of surfactant-free sub 3 nm Pd NPs on carbon support materials at room temperature in alkaline methanol [21]
A simple room temperature synthesis method to obtain sub 3 nm surfactant-free Pd NPs on carbon was used to study the effect of loading and size by comparing synthesized and commercial catalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR)
Summary
Precious metals (PMs) are key materials in a wide range of applications such as chemical production [1], energy conversion [2,3,4], automotive applications [5], medicine [6,7], air [8], or water treatment [9]. Popular synthesis methods for the research and development of nanomaterials, and in particular nanoparticles (NPs), are often based on wet-chemistry and colloidal syntheses [11] In this approach, a molecular precursor comprising one or few atoms of PM in an oxidized state is converted to metallic material in the presence of a reducing agent [12]. A molecular precursor comprising one or few atoms of PM in an oxidized state is converted to metallic material in the presence of a reducing agent [12] The latter approach suffers from the drawback of often requiring surfactants to control the size and/or shape of the nanomaterials and to be performed in high boiling point solvents.
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