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Synthesis of well-dispersed Pt-Pd nanoparticles stabilized by silsesquioxanes with enhanced catalytic activity for formic acid electrooxidation

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Abstract

The preparation of well-dispersed nanoparticles (NPs) has been one of the challenges in the development of nanoscale processing. Here, we firstly prepared well-dispersed Pt-Pd NPs (average particle diameter 6.5 nm) by using octa-maleamic acid silsesquioxanes as the stabilizing agent with hydrothermal method and determined the best OM-POSS/metal precursors molar ratio (1:2). These well-dispersed Pt-Pd NPs exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic performance, stability and tolerance to CO poisoning in formic acid oxidation. Their current density of the first oxidation peak in the CV curve recorded in 0.5 M H2SO4 + 0.5 M HCOOH is 4.3 and 8.6 times higher than those of Pt NPs (0.24 A mg−1) and commercial Pt/C (0.08 A mg−1) catalysts, as well as the ratio of the two oxidation peaks 4.8 and 10 times higher, respectively.

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Acknowledgment

This research was financially supported by the National Nature Science Foundations of China (No. 81571812; No. 61171015) and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (1107047002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, People’s Republic of China

    Kun Qian, Furui Hao, Shuhai Wei & Yihong Wang

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong, 226019, People’s Republic of China

    Cunwang Ge, Ping Chen & Yihong Zhang

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  1. Kun Qian
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  2. Furui Hao
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  3. Shuhai Wei
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  4. Yihong Wang
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  7. Yihong Zhang
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Correspondence to Yihong Wang.

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Qian, K., Hao, F., Wei, S. et al. Synthesis of well-dispersed Pt-Pd nanoparticles stabilized by silsesquioxanes with enhanced catalytic activity for formic acid electrooxidation. J Solid State Electrochem 21, 297–304 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3334-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3334-0

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