Facile synthesis of flower-like Au@AuPd nanocrystals with highly electrocatalytic activity for formic acid oxidation and hydrogen evolution reactions

Herein, a one-pot co-reduction method was developed to prepare flower-like Au@AuPd core-shell nanocrystals (Au@AuPd NCs) under the guidance of 2,4-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine (DAHP). The product was mainly characterized by microscopic measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and its formation mechanism was discussed in details. The architectures showed much larger electrochemical active surface area (62.68 m(2) g(pd)(-1)) than commercial Pd black (8.23 m(2) g(pd)(-1)), together with the higher mass activity (1250 mA mg(-1)) for formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR). Besides, the catalyst displayed improved catalytic features for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) relative to Pd black and Pt/C catalysts. These indicate the potential applications of the catalyst in energy storage and transformation. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.