Preparation of Carbon-Supported Ternary Nanocatalysts Palladium-Vanadium-Cobalt for Alcohol Electrooxidation

Abstract

Carbon-supported nanocatalysts palladium-vanadium-cobalt (PdVCo) were synthesized via ethylene glycol (EG) reduction reaction and NaBH4-assisted reduction. The electrocatalytic performance for alcohol oxidation in alkaline solutions was investigated. The XRD and EDX results confirmed the incorporation of V and Co with Pd lattice to form the ternary nanocatalysts PdVCo in a single phase. The NaBH4-assisted EG reduction process exhibited highly dispersed nanoparticles with a uniform size, and the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) determined by cyclic voltammetry in 1 M KOH was also superior. In electrocatalysis performance, the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) results presented an excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability of the PdVCo-20EG-20NaBH4 sample in the alcohol electrooxidation as compared to other synthesized samples with the steady current of 52 mA/cm2 and 21.9 mA/cm2 in methanol and ethanol, respectively.