Electrochemistry Communications (Apr 2019)

Synergetic electrocatalytic activities towards hydrogen peroxide: Understanding the ordered structure of PdNi bimetallic nanocatalysts

  • Tan-Thanh Huynh,
  • Meng-Che Tsai,
  • Chun-Jern Pan,
  • Wei-Nien Su,
  • Ting-Shan Chan,
  • Jyh-Fu Lee,
  • Bing-Joe Hwang

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 101
pp. 93 – 98

Abstract

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Mesoporous carbon-template-supported novel-order face-centered cubic (fcc) structured bimetallic PdNi nanocatalysts were prepared for the ‘green synthesis’ of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Our results show that the alloy crystal structure of fcc-Pd050Ni050 can be structurally transformed into a face-centered tetragonal (fct) structure after hydrogen-assisted heat-treatment at 750 °C. Transformation of the fcc structure into the fct structure resulted in ordered intermetallically structured Pd050Ni050 alloys with higher alloying extents as confirmed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and high resolution TEM. In addition, an electrochemical detection method was developed for in situ measurement of direct H2O2 synthesis. The fct-Pd050Ni050 catalysts produced demonstrated both enhanced structural stability and higher productivity than the fcc structured nanocatalysts and in doing so potentially offer a cost-effective route to the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. Keywords: Direct synthesis of H2O2, Face-centered tetragonal, Ordered structure, Palladium- nickel