Green synthesis of core–shell gold–palladium@palladium nanocrystals dispersed on graphene with enhanced catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction and methanol oxidation in alkaline media

By Zheng, Jie-Ning; Li, Shan-Shan; Ma, Xiaohong; Chen, Fang-Yi; Wang, Ai-Jun; Chen, Jian-Rong & Feng, Jiu-Ju
Published in Journal of Power Sources NULL 2014

Abstract

Well-defined core–shell gold–palladium@palladium nanocrystals (AuPd@Pd) are facilely prepared by a simple and green wet-chemical method at 25 °C. A Good's buffer, 2-[4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazinyl] ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES), is used as a reducing agent and a shape-directing agent, while there is no template, seed, organic solvent, or surfactant involved. The AuPd@Pd nanocrystals are uniformly dispersed on graphene nanosheets by ultrasonication, resulting in the formation of graphene supported AuPd@Pd (G-AuPd@Pd). The as-prepared nanocomposites exhibit the improved catalytic activity, good tolerance, and better stability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in alkaline media, compared with the G-Pd and commercial Pd black catalysts. The as-developed method may provide a promising pathway for large-scale fabrication of AuPd-based catalysts.

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