Palladium/Copper Nanoalloy Supported on Carbon Nanotubes for the Electrooxidation of Methanol and Ethylene Glycol

摘要

abstract_textpHerein, we demonstrate the ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of Palladium/Copper nanoalloy supported on carbon nanotubes (PdCu/CNT) towards the electro-oxidation of methanol and ethylene glycol using Triton X-100 as a stabilizer. Structural and morphological analysis manifests the formation of PdCu nanoalloy on the surface of CNTs. For the electrochemical comparison, PdCu on Vulcan carbon (PdCu/VC) also synthesized in the same procedure and characterized thoroughly. The electrochemical evaluations of the PdCu/CNT reveal the better mass activity of 1021.6 mA mg(pd)(-1) which is 1.6-fold higher than PdCu/VC and 5.9 times advanced than commercial Pd/C catalysts towards methanol electrooxidation. Also, for electrooxidation of ethylene glycol, the mass activity of the PdCu/CNT is more of about 1219.8 mA mg(pd)(-1) which is around 1.7 times enhanced than PdCu/VC and 4.1 times improved than commercial Pd/C catalysts. Furthermore, sonochemically prepared PdCu/CNT provides improved stability up to 3600s in both methanol and ethylene glycol oxidation reactions. The accredited activity enhancement due to its unique construction of zero-dimensional structured PdCu nanoalloy with one-dimensional CNTs and modified electronic effect of Pd on it./p/abstract_text