Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of N-doped graphene-supported binary PdAu nanoflowers for enhanced electro-oxidation of ethylene glycol and glycerol

The design of cost-efficient catalysts for the electrooxidation of small organic molecules are highly desirable for the commercial application of direct fuel cells. Shape-controlled PdAu alloys with N-doped graphene support are highly efficient electrocatalysts for the electrooxidation of ethylene glycol and glycerol in the alkaline media. Impressively, the newly generated Pd1Au1-NF/NG catalysts prepared by a facile ultrasonic-assisted synthetic method in this work exhibit the unprecedentedly high mass activities with 12.8 and 8.7 A mg(-1) towards ethylene glycol and glycerol oxidation, which are 10.07- and 12.25-fold enhancements than that of commercial Pd/C catalyst (1.27 and 0.71 A mg(-1)), respectively. This work may open a new way in enlarging the surface area and ultimately maximizing the electrocatalytic activities by tuning the morphology of metallic alloy and introducing the appropriate catalyst supports. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.