Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis of carbon supported Au-decorated PdCu nanocatalyst for formic acid oxidation

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Ionics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work reports the synthesis of a novel carbon supported Au-decorated PdCu composite catalyst for formic acid oxidation. The catalyst was prepared through a two-step process. PdCu alloy was firstly prepared through co-reduction of Pd and Cu ions using ethylene glycol and sodium citrate as the reducing and stabilizing reagents. Au was decorated on the surface of the PdCu alloy through spontaneous replacements of Pd and Cu by Au. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image shows that the metallic nanoparticles are well dispersed on the carbon surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results demonstrate that the Pd 3d5/2 binding energy (BE) of the PdCu@Au/C exhibits a positive shift in comparison with that of Pd/C and PdCu/C. The as-prepared composite catalyst exhibits higher activity towards formic acid oxidation in comparison with individual Pd. Interestingly, a significantly improved electrochemical stability of Au-decorated PdCu nanoparticles compared with the PdCu counterpart is observed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

References

  1. Zhu Y, Ha SY, Masel RI (2004) High power density direct formic acid fuel cells. J Power Sources 130:8–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Babu PK, Kim HS, Chung JH, Oldfield E, Wieckowski A (2004) Bonding and motional aspects of CO adsorbed on the surface of Pt nanoparticles decorated with Pd. J Phys Chem B 108:20228–20232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Liu Z, Hong L, Tham MP, Lim TH, Jiang H (2006) Nanostructured Pt/C and Pd/C catalysts for direct formic acid fuel cells. J Power Sources 161:831–835

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang X, Tang Y, Gao Y, Lu TH (2008) Carbon-supported Pd-Ir catalyst as anodic catalyst in direct formic acid fuel cell. J Power Sources 175:784–788

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Chen J, Li Y, Liu S, Wang G, Tian J, Jiang C, Zhu S, Wang R (2013) Remarkable activity of PdIr nanoparticles supported on the surface of carbon nanotubes pretreated via a sonochemical process for formic acid electro-oxidation. Appl Surf Sci 287:457–460

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang XM, Xia YY (2008) Electrocatalytic performance of PdCo/C catalyst for formic acid oxidation. Electrochem Commun 10:1644–1646

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Li RS, Hao H, Cai WB, Huang T, Yu AS (2010) Preparation of carbon supported Pd-Pb hollow nanospheres and their electrocatalytic activities for formic acid oxidation. Electrochem Commun 12:901–904

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Qin Y, Jiang JY, Niu D, Zhang X, Zhou X, Niu L, Yuan W (2012) Carbon nanofiber supported bimetallic PdAu nanoparticles for formic acid electrooxidation. J Power Sources 215:130–134

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lee S, Jung N, Cho J, Park H, Ryu J, Jang I, Kim H, Cho E, Park Y, Ham HC, Jang J, Yoo SJ (2014) Surface-rearranged Pd3Au/C nanocatalysts by using CO-induced segregation for formic acid oxidation reactions. ACS Catal 4:2402–2408

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ding K, Liu L, Cao Y, Yan X, Wei H (2014) Formic acid oxidation reaction on a PdxNiy bimetallic nanoparticle catalyst prepared by a thermal decomposition process using ionic liquids as the solvent. Int J Hydrog Energy 39:7326–7337

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Bai Z, Yang L, Zhang J, Li L, Lv J, Hu C, Zhou J (2010) Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of Pd-Rh alloy hollow nanosphere catalysts for formic acid oxidation. Catal Commun 11:919–922

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Lu Y, Chen W (2012) PdAg alloy nanowires: facile one-step synthesis and high electrocatalytic activity for formic acid oxidation. ACS Catal 2:84–90

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Wen W, Li C, Li W, Tian Y (2013) Carbon-supported Pd-Cr electrocatalysts for the electrooxidation of formic acid that demonstrate high activity and stability. Electrochim Acta 109:201–206

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Xu C, Liu Y, Wang J, Geng H, Qiu H (2012) Nanoporous PdCu alloy for formic acid electro-oxidation. J Power Sources 199:124–131

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Wang L, Zhai J, Jiang K, Wang J, Cai W (2015) Pd-Cu/C electrocatalysts synthesized by one-pot polyol reduction towards formic acid oxidation: structural characterization and electrocatalytic performance. Int J Hydrog Energy 40:1726–1734

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Lu L, Shen L, Shi Y, Chen T, Jiang G, Ge C, Tang Y, Chen Y, Lu T (2012) New insights into enhanced electrocatalytic performance of carbon supported Pd-Cu catalyst for formic acid oxidation. Electrochim Acta 85:187–194

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Li S, Cheng D, Qiu X, Cao D (2014) Synthesis of Cu@Pd core-shell nanowires with enhanced activity and stability for formic acid oxidation. Electrochim Acta 143:44–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ren M, Zhou Y, Tao F, Zou Z, Akins DL, Yang H (2014) Controllable modification of the electronic structure of carbon supported core-shell Cu@Pd catalysts for formic acid oxidation. J Phys Chem C 118:12669–12675

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hu S, Scudiero L, Ha S (2012) Electronic effect on oxidation of formic acid on supported Pd-Cu bimetallic surface. Electrochim Acta 83:354–358

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Dai L, Zou S (2011) Enhanced formic acid oxidation on Cu-Pd nanoparticles. J Power Sources 196:9369–9372

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhang J, Sasaki K, Sutter E, Adzic RR (2007) Stabilization of platinum oxygen-reduction electrocatalysts using gold clusters. Science 315:220–222

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Suo Y, Hsing I-M (2011) Synthesis of bimetallic PdAu nanoparticles for formic acid oxidation. Electrochim Acta 56:2174–2183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Wang D, Lin H, Wang H, Yu Y, Rus E, Muller DA, DiSalvo FJ, Abruña HD (2012) Facile synthesis of carbon supported Pd-Co core-shell nanoparticles as oxygen reduction electrocatalysts and their enhanced activity and stability with monolayer Pt decoration. Chem Mater 24:2274–2281

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Antelman MS, Jr FJH (1982) The encyclopedia of chemical electrode. Plenum Press, New York, Potentials

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. Jenkins R, Snyder RL (1996) Introduction to X-ray powder diffractometry. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  26. Hong W, Wang J, Wang E (2014) Facile synthesis of highly active PdAu nanowire networks as self-supported electrocatalyst for ethanol electrooxidation. ACS Appl Mater Inter 6:9481–9487

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work is financially supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ16B030001), the Project of Interdisciplinary Research in Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (2015JC02Y), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51206148), and the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Major Project (2013C03017-4). We are thankful for the financial support of China Scholarship Council (201308330369).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Liuhe Road 318#, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310023, China

    Yange Suo, Zhan Zhang, Jiaping He, Zhiguo Zhang & Guilin Hu

Authors
  1. Yange Suo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jiaping He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Zhiguo Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Guilin Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhiguo Zhang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Suo, Y., Zhang, Z., He, J. et al. Synthesis of carbon supported Au-decorated PdCu nanocatalyst for formic acid oxidation. Ionics 22, 985–990 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-016-1718-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-016-1718-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation