A Facile Synthesis of Hollow Palladium/Copper Alloy Nanocubes Supported on N-Doped Graphene for Ethanol Electrooxidation Catalyst

• Main Authors: Zhengyu Bai, Rumeng Huang, Lu Niu, Qing Zhang, Lin Yang, Jiujun Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2015-04-01
• Series: Catalysts
• Subjects: PdCu alloy nanocubes; N-doped graphene; ethanol oxidation; direct ethanol fuel cells
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/5/2/747

In this paper, a catalyst of hollow PdCu alloy nanocubes supported on nitrogen-doped graphene support (H-PdCu/ppy-NG) is successfully synthesized using a simple one-pot template-free method. Two other catalyst materials such as solid PdCu alloy particles supported on this same nitrogen-doped graphene support (PdCu/ppy-NG) and hollow PdCu alloy nanocubes supported on the reduced graphene oxide support (H-PdCu/RGO) are also prepared using the similar synthesis conditions for comparison. It is found that, among these three catalyst materials, H-PdCu/ppy-NG gives the highest electrochemical active area and both the most uniformity and dispersibility of H-PdCu particles. Electrochemical tests show that the H-PdCu/ppy-NG catalyst can give the best electrocatalytic activity and stability towards the ethanol electrooxidation when compared to other two catalysts. Therefore, H-PdCu/ppy-NG should be a promising catalyst candidate for anodic ethanol oxidation in direct ethanol fuel cells.