Nitrogen-doped carbon-TiO2 composite as support of Pd electrocatalyst for formic acid oxidation

We report Pd nanoparticles supported on a composite consisting of oxide TiO2 and nitrogen-doped carbon for formic acid oxidation (FAO). The nitrogen-doped carbon-TiO2 (NCx-TiO2) composite support was prepared by a simple polymerization-pyrolysis process using commercial TiO2 nanoparticles (P25). Surface analysis showed that elements of Ti, C, O, and N were present on the composite surface, on which nitrogen existed in both pyridinic and quaternary forms. Pd nanoparticles with a mean size of ca. 4 nm were uniformly deposited on the composite via a polyol process. Electrochemical characterizations showed that the NCx-TiO2-supported Pd particles (Pd/NCx-TiO2) exhibited an electrocatalytic activity towards FAO that almost doubled that of the carbon black-supported Pd particles (Pd/C) with much enhanced electrocatalytic stability. The better performance of the composite supported Pd was attributed to a possible electronic structure modification in the metallic Pd particles and bifunctional effect produced by the NCx-TiO2 composite. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.