One-Pot Synthesis of Pt–Pd Bimetallic Nanodendrites with Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

• Published in: ACS sustainable chemistry & engineering 2019-05, Vol.7 (9), p.8419-8428
• Main Authors: Wu, Rifeng, Li, Yanjie, Gong, Wenhao, Shen, Pei Kang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2168-0485; 2168-0485
• DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b00056

One-pot synthesis Pt–Pd bimetallic nanostructure has become a promising way to get superior oxygen reduction reaction performance and cost-effective electrocatalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. In this work, we report a facile one-pot method by tuning the feed ratio of Pt and Pd (Pt3Pd1, Pt2Pd1, and Pt1Pd1) in ethylene glycol solution at the effect of iodide ions and poly­(vinylpyrrolidone) to synthesize three different Pt–Pd bimetallic nanodendrites structure. Transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that the nanodendrites have a Pt-rich surface structure and numerous high-index facets at the branch’s surface, thus providing a great deal of catalytic sites. Carbon-supported Pt–Pd nanodendrite catalysts were investigated for oxygen reduction reaction performance and accelerated durability test. The Pt1Pd1/C catalyst shows the best activity and durability and with a mass activity of 1.164 A mgPt –1 and a specific activity of 1.33 mA cm–2, greatly enhanced compared with commercial TKK-Pt/C catalysts (0.15 A mgPt –1 for mass activity, and 0.25 mA cm–2 for a specific activity). The Pt1Pd1/C catalyst also exhibits remarkable durability with almost negligible decay in performance after 10 000 cycles. These results provide us an attractive strategy for designing catalysts with a simple route, lower cost, and remarkable catalytic activity and durability.