Cyanogel-Induced PdCu Alloy with Pd-Enriched Surface for Formic Acid Oxidation and Oxygen Reduction

Pd-based catalysts with preferred morphologies and compositions are of great significance for boosting oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR) performance, but the development of facile preparation methods is challenging. Therefore, an unconventional strategy is proposed to synthesize palladium-copper cyanogel (Cu-x[Pd(CN)(4)](y)center dot aH(2)O) and subsequently induce the formation of PdCu alloy nanocorals (ANCs), which has the advantages of being simple, green, and efficient. The synthesized PdCu ANCs consist of a 3D porous network structure and Pd-enriched surface, which is beneficial to exposing more accessible active sites, accelerating mass/electron transfer rate, and strengthening chemical stability. By virtue of these merits, the PdCu ANCs exhibit superior activity and stability in both FAOR and ORR. Remarkably, the mass activity of PdCu ANCs catalyst in FAOR reaches 554.53 mA mg(Pd)(-1), with a 4.8-fold enhancement compared to commercial Pd black. And the half-wave potential of 0.861 V of PdCu ANCs catalyst in ORR surpasses the values of commercial Pd black and Pt black catalysts.

Automated summary

This study proposes a simple, green, and efficient method to synthesize PdCu alloy nanocorals as catalysts with a 3D porous structure and Pd-enriched surface, which can expose more active sites, accelerate mass/electron transfer rate, and enhance chemical stability. The experimental results show that the PdCu catalyst exhibits superior activity and stability in formic acid oxidation reaction and oxygen reduction reaction.