A “Special” Solvent to Prepare Alloyed Pd<sub>2</sub>Ni<sub>1</sub> Nanoclusters on a MWCNT Catalyst for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Formic Acid
Pingping Yang,
Li Zhang,
Xuejiao Wei,
Shiming Dong,
Wenting Cao,
Dong Ma,
Yuejun Ouyang,
Yixi Xie,
Junjie Fei
Affiliations
Pingping Yang
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Li Zhang
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Xuejiao Wei
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Shiming Dong
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Wenting Cao
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Dong Ma
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Yuejun Ouyang
College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Huaihua University, Huaihua 418008, China
Yixi Xie
College of Chemistry, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China
Junjie Fei
College of Chemistry, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China
Herein, an electrocatalyst with Pd2Ni1 nanoclusters, supporting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) (referred to Pd2Ni1/CNTs), was fabricated with deep eutectic solvents (DES), which simultaneously served as reducing agent, dispersant, and solvent. The mass activity of the catalyst for formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR) was increased nearly four times compared to a Pd/C catalyst. The excellent catalytic activity of Pd2Ni1/CNTs was ascribed to the special nanocluster structure and appropriate Ni doping, which changed the electron configuration of Pd to reduce the d-band and to produce a Pd–Ni bond as a new active sites. These newly added Ni sites obtained more OH− to release more effective active sites by interacting with the intermediate produced in the first step of FAOR. Hence, this study provides a new method for preparing a Pd–Ni catalyst with high catalytic performance.
