Electrochemical and electrocatalytic behaviour of platinum-palladium nanoparticle alloys

The electrochemical and electrocatalytic behaviour of Pt/Pd nanoparticles prepared in water-in-oil microemulsion was reported. The catalytic activity of the nanoparticles was studied by using the reactions of dissociative adsorption of methanol and formic acid. The use of these surface probe reactions allowed the detection of palladium at the surface of the nanoparticles. The electrochemical stability of the particles was also investigated by voltammetry and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). We shown that EQCM technique may be quantitatively used to correlate mass and area modifications when the electrochemical conditions produce corrosion of the elements of the alloy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.