Facile synthesis of PdSX/C porous nanospheres and their applications for ethanol oxidation reaction

We report a facile approach for the synthesis of carbon-supported palladium polysulphide porous nanospheres (PdSx/C) and their applications for ethanol oxidation reaction. Typical synthesis started with generation of palladium/poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(Pd/PEDOT) nanospheres, followed by a calcination process at an optimized temperature to form PdSX/C, with an average size of 2.47 +/- 0.60 and 50 nm of PdSX nanoparticles and carbon porous nanospheres, respectively. Various techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical techniques were performed to characterize their morphologies, compositions and structures. In contrary to most Pd based electrochemical catalysts that could be easily poised with trace sulfur during the catalytic oxidation process, the as-prepared PdSx/C porous nanospheres exhibited high electrocatalytic activities and stabilities for the electrochemical catalytic oxidation of ethanol in alkaline medium. In particular, the forward peak current intensity achieved 162.1 mA mg(-1) and still maintained at 46.7 mA mgt even after 1000 cycles. This current work not only offers a novel type of fuel-cell catalyst for ethanol oxidation reaction, but also provides a possible route for solving the sulfur-poisoning problem in catalysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.