Alloyed Palladium-Lead Nanosheet Assemblies for Electrocatalytic Ethanol Oxidation.

Synthesizing alloyed bimetallic electrocatalysts with a three-dimensional (3D) structure assembly have arouse great interests in electrocatalysis. We synthesized a class of alloyed Pd 3 Pb/Pd nanosheet assemblies (NSAs) composed of a two-dimensional (2D) sheet structure with adjustable compositions via an oil bath approach at a low temperature. Both the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images reveal the successful formation of the nanosheet structure, where the morphology of Pd 3 Pb/Pd NSAs can be regulated by adjusting the atomic mole ratio of Pb and Pb metal precursors. The power X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern shows that Pd 3 Pb/Pd NSA catalysts are homogeneously alloyed. Electrochemical analysis and the density functional theory (DFT) method demonstrate that the electrocatalytic activity of the alloyed Pd 3 Pb/Pd NSAs can be improved by the doping of the Pb element. As a result of the addition of element Pb and change of the electron structure, the electrocatalytic activity toward ethanol oxidation of alloyed Pd 3 Pb/Pd-15 NSA can reach up to 2886 mA mg -1 , which is approximately 2.8 times that of the pure Pd NSA counterpart (1020 mA mg -1 ). The Pd 3 Pb/Pd NSAs are favorable in a high catalytic temperature, high KOH concentration, and high ethanol concentration.