Multifunctional Ultrathin Pd x Cu 1– x and Pt∼Pd x Cu 1– x One-Dimensional Nanowire Motifs for Various Small Molecule Oxidation Reactions
- Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3400, United States
- Chemistry Department, Building 555, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States
- Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3400, United States, Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Sciences Department, Building 480, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, United States
Developing novel electrocatalysts for small molecule oxidation processes, including formic acid oxidation (FAOR), methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), and ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), denoting the key anodic reactions for their respective fuel cell configurations, is a significant and relevant theme of recent efforts in the field. Herein, in this report, we demonstrated a concerted effort to couple and combine the benefits of small size, anisotropic morphology, and tunable chemical composition in order to devise a novel “family” of functional architectures. In particular, we have fabricated not only ultrathin 1-D Pd1–xCux alloys but also Pt-coated Pd1–xCux (i.e., Pt~Pd1–xCux; herein the ~ indicates an intimate association, but not necessarily actual bond formation, between the inner bimetallic core and the Pt outer shell) core–shell hierarchical nanostructures with readily tunable chemical compositions by utilizing a facile, surfactant-based, wet chemical synthesis coupled with a Cu underpotential deposition technique. Our main finding is that our series of as-prepared nanowires are functionally flexible. More precisely, we demonstrate that various examples within this “family” of structural motifs can be tailored for exceptional activity with all 3 of these important electrocatalytic reactions. In particular, we note that our series of Pd1–xCux nanowires all exhibit enhanced FAOR activities as compared with not only analogous Pd ultrathin nanowires but also commercial Pt and Pd standards, with Pd9Cu representing the “optimal” composition. Moreover, our group of Pt~Pd1–xCux nanowires consistently outperformed not only commercial Pt NPs but also ultrathin Pt nanowires by several fold orders of magnitude for both the MOR and EOR reactions in alkaline media. As a result, the variation of the MOR and EOR performance with the chemical composition of our ultrathin Pt~Pd1–xCux nanowires was also discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-98CH10886; SC-00112704; SC00112704
- OSTI ID:
- 1329494
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1235853
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-108988-2015-JA
- Journal Information:
- ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal Name: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces Vol. 7 Journal Issue: 47; ISSN 1944-8244
- Publisher:
- American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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