Tuning Crystal Phase of Palladium–Selenium Nanowires for Enhanced Ethylene Glycol Electrocatalytic Oxidation

Abstract

AbstractAlcohol electrooxidation is pivotal for a sustainable energy economy. However, designing efficient electrocatalysts for this process is still a formidable challenge. Herein, palladium–selenium nanowires featuring distinct crystal phases: monoclinic Pd7Se2 and tetragonal Pd4.5Se for ethylene glycol electrooxidation reaction (EGOR) are synthesized. Notably, the supported monoclinic Pd7Se2 nanowires (m‐Pd7Se2 NWs/C) exhibit superior EGOR activity, achieving a mass activity (MA) and specific activity (SA) of 10.4 A mgPd−1 (18.7 mA cm−2), which are 8.0 (6.7) and 10.4 (8.2) times versus the tetragonal Pd4.5Se and commercial Pd/C and surpass those reported in the literature. Furthermore, m‐Pd7Se2 NWs/C displays robust catalytic activity for other alcohol electrooxidation. Comprehensive characterization and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the enhanced electrocatalytic performance is attributed to the increased formation of Pd0 on the high‐index facets of the m‐Pd7Se2 NWs, which lowers the energy barriers for the C─C bond dissociation in CHOHCHOH* and the CO* oxidation to CO2*. This study provides palladium‐based alloy electrocatalysts exhibiting the highest mass activity reported to date for the electrooxidation of ethylene glycol, achieved through the crystalline phase engineering strategy.