Quaternary PdCuNiP Porous Nanosheets with Enhanced Electrochemical Performance in the Ethanol Oxidation Reaction

Peng Chen, Sa Huang

Abstract: The ability to manipulate metal electrocatalysts with satisfactory performance for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is promising but still unsatisfactory for practical application in direct ethanol fuel cells. Beyond traditional metal–metal alloys, we herein report a novel metal–nonmetal alloy electrocatalyst that takes advantage of quaternary PdCuNiP alloy composition and the ultrathin/porous nanosheet (NS) structure. The optimized PdCuNiP porous NSs feature more undercoordinated active sites and modified electron/function structures, enabling better antipoisoning ability. Under alkaline conditions, this electrocatalyst shows excellent electrochemical EOR performance with a high EOR activity of 4.05 A mgPd–1 and a low activation energy of 21.2 kJ mol–1, comparable to the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts reported in the literature. Meanwhile, PdCuNiP porous NSs are electrocatalytically active for electrochemical oxidation of other fuels (methanol, glycerol, and glucose), highlighting their great potential for various direct alcohol fuel cells. The findings reported here may put forward some insights into designing new functional electrocatalysts for various fuel cell electrocatalysis and beyond.