Construction of Pd-Zn dual sites to enhance the performance for ethanol electro-oxidation reaction

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 5273
• Main Authors: Qiu, Yajun, Zhang, Jian, Jin, Jing, Sun, Jiaqiang, Tang, Haolin, Chen, Qingqing, Zhang, Zedong, Sun, Wenming, Meng, Ge, Xu, Qi, Zhu, Youqi, Han, Aijuan, Gu, Lin, Wang, Dingsheng, Li, Yadong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.09.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/299/886; 639/638/77/886; 639/925/357/354; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Computer applications; Construction; Electrocatalysts; Ethanol; Exposure; Fuel cells; Fuel technology; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nanoparticles; Oxidation; Palladium; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Zinc; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25600-9

Rational design and synthesis of superior electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation is crucial to practical applications of direct ethanol fuel cells. Here, we report that the construction of Pd-Zn dual sites with well exposure and uniformity can significantly improve the efficiency of ethanol electro-oxidation. Through synthetic method control, Pd-Zn dual sites on intermetallic PdZn nanoparticles, Pd-Pd sites on Pd nanoparticles and individual Pd sites are respectively obtained on the same N-doped carbon coated ZnO support. Compared with Pd-Pd sites and individual Pd sites, Pd-Zn dual sites display much higher activity for ethanol electro-oxidation, exceeding that of commercial Pd/C by a factor of ~24. Further computational studies disclose that Pd-Zn dual sites promote the adsorption of ethanol and hydroxide ion to optimize the electro-oxidation pathway with dramatically reduced energy barriers, leading to the superior activity. This work provides valuable clues for developing high-performance ethanol electro-oxidation catalysts for fuel cells. Rational design and synthesis of superior electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation is crucial to practical applications of direct ethanol fuel cells. Here, authors report the construction of Pd-Zn dual sites with well exposure and uniformity can improve the efficiency of ethanol electro-oxidation.