Photoassisted Deposition of Palladium Nanoparticles on Carbon Nitride for Efficient Oxygen Reduction

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 120; no. 27; pp. 14467 - 14473
• Main Authors: Konda, Suresh K, Amiri, Mona, Chen, Aicheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 14.07.2016
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b02080

One of the major challenges associated with fuel cells is the design of highly efficient electrocatalysts to reduce the high overpotential of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this study, a facile photoassisted method was employed for the direct deposition of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) onto graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for efficient oxygen reduction. The fabricated catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transmission infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was examined using cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear scan voltammetry (LSV), and chronoamperometry (CA). Our studies have shown that the synthesized Pd-g-C3N4 nanocomposite exhibited robust electrocatalytic behavior toward the ORR in 0.1 M KOH solution, where the desirable four-electron pathway was achieved. This enhanced ORR activity might be attributed to synergetic effects between g-C3N4 and Pd as well as the even dispersion of the small Pd NPs. In addition, the developed catalyst demonstrated a significantly improved tolerance against methanol as well as enhanced stability in comparison to the benchmark commercial platinum-loaded carbon catalysts.