Pulse electrodeposited Pd nanoclusters on graphene-based electrodes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Electrodeposition-Assisted Crystal Growth Regulation of PdBi Clusters on Carbon Cloths for Ethanol Oxidation

Carbon-supported Pd-based clusters are one of the most promising anodic catalysts for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) due to their encouraging activity and practical applications. However, unclear growth mechanism of Pd-based clusters on the carbon-based materials has hindered their extensive applications. Herein, we first introduce multi-void spherical PdBi cluster/carbon cloth (PdBi/CC) composites by an electrodeposition routine. The growth mechanism of PdBi clusters on the CC supports has been systemically investigated by evaluating the selected samples and tuning their compositions, which involve the big difference in standard redox potential between Pd2+/Pd and Bi3+/Bi and easy adsorption of Bi3+ on the surface of Pd-rich seeds. Benefitting from the ensembles of many nanocrystal subunits, multi-void spherical PdBi clusters can present collective properties and novel functionalities. In addition, the outstanding characteristics of CC supports enable PdBi clusters with stable nanostructures. Thanks to the unique structure, Pd20Bi/CC catalysts manifest higher EOR activity and better stability compared to Pd/CC. Systematic characterizations and a series of CO poisoning tests further confirm that the dramatically enhanced EOR activity and stability can be attributed to the incorporation of Bi species and the strong coupling of the structure between PdBi clusters and CC supports.

Progress in the Development of Electrodeposited Catalysts for Direct Liquid Fuel Cell Applications

Fuel cells are a key enabling technology for the future economy, thereby providing power to portable, stationary, and transportation applications, which can be considered an important contributor towards reducing the high dependencies on fossil fuels. Electrocatalyst plays a vital role in improving the performance of the low temperature fuel cells. Noble metals (Pt, Pd) supported on carbon have shown promising performance owing to their high catalytic activity for both electroreduction and electrooxidation and have good stability. Catalyst preparation by electrodeposition is considered to be simple in terms of operation and scalability with relatively low cost to obtain high purity metal deposits. This review emphasises the role of electrodeposition as a cost-effective method for synthesising fuel cell catalysts, summarising the progress in the electrodeposited Pt and Pd catalysts for direct liquid fuel cells (DLFCs). Moreover, this review also discusses the technological advances made utilising these catalysts in the past three decades, and the factors that impede the technological advancement of the electrodeposition process are presented. The challenges and the fundamental research strategies needed to achieve the commercial potential of electrodeposition as an economical, efficient methodology for synthesising fuel cells catalysts are outlined with the necessary raw materials considering current and future savings scenario.

Palladium Particles Modified by Mixed-Frequency Square-Wave Potential Treatment to Enhance Electrocatalytic Performance for Formic Acid Oxidation

Palladium catalysts have attracted widespread attention as advanced electrocatalysts for the formic acid oxidation (FAO) due to their excellent electrocatalytic activity and relatively high abundance. At present, electrodeposition methods have been widely developed to prepare small-sized and highly-dispersed Pd electrocatalysts. However, the customary use of surfactants would introduce heterogeneous impurities, which requires complicated removal processes. In this work, we reported a two-step electrochemical method that employed square-wave potential treatment (SWPT) to modify electrodeposited Pd particles without the use of capping agents. Under the SWPT with a mixed frequency, Pd particles show significantly reduced size and more dispersed distribution, exhibiting a high mass activity of 1.43 A mg−1 toward FAO, which is 4.6 times higher than the counterpart of commercial Pd/C. The increase in electrocatalytic activity of FAO is attributed to the highly developed surface of palladium particles uniformly distributed over the support surface.

Single Atom Nucleation of Cobalt over Graphene Oxide: Theory and Experimental Study

Nucleation and growth mechanism of Co electrodeposition over graphene oxide (GO) was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry techniques. The studies were performed over an aqueous electrolyte containing 10 mM CoSO₄·7H₂O maintained at an initial pH of 2.5. CV studies established that the deposition mechanism was diffusion-controlled and irreversible. Chronoamperometry studies revealed the presence of three concurrent processes: an initial adsorption current, which indicated adatom layer formation, 3D nucleation and growth of Co islands over GO, and hydrogen evolution over the deposited Co nanoclusters. It was observed that the nucleation rate increased with increasing the overpotential (η) for deposition (from 2.71 × 10⁴ cm^-2 s^-1 at η = 0.35 V to 3.62 × 10⁶ cm^-2 s^-1 at η = 0.90 V). Application of the classical theory of nucleation over the chronoamperometry results suggested that the free energy of formation of the critical nucleus was lower than room temperature thermal energy. This indicated that the nucleation and growth process was not activation-controlled but rather a kinetically controlled process. Application of Milchev's atomistic theory revealed that every single atom of Co deposited over the GO sheet was a supercritical nucleus that could grow into a cluster irreversibly.

The effective determination of Cd(ii) and Pb(ii) simultaneously based on an aluminum silicon carbide-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite electrode

A platform for the simultaneous determination of Cd(ii) and Pb(ii) in aqueous solution has been applied based on an aluminum silicon carbide-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite (Al₄SiC₄-RGO) modified bismuth film glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) for the first time. The Al₄SiC₄-RGO nanocomposite electrode was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Compared with the Al₄SiC₄ modified GCE and bare GCE, the electrochemical performance of the Al₄SiC₄-RGO nanocomposite electrode is obviously enhanced resulting from the synergistic effects of Al₄SiC₄, RGO and bismuth film. The chemical and electrochemical parameters that exert an influence on the deposition and stripping of metal ions, such as supporting electrolytes, pH values, concentrations of Bi³⁺, deposition potentials and deposition times, were carefully studied. Under optimal conditions, a linear relationship exists between the currents and the concentrations of Cd(ii) and Pb(ii) in the range of 50 to 2700 μg L^-1. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) are estimated to be 1.30 μg L^-1 for Pb(ii) and 2.15 μg L^-1 for Cd(ii). Compared with the related work reported in the literature, the analytical performance in this work has a lower determination limit and a wider detection linear range. In addition, this electrode also exhibits good stability and reproducibility. These results imply that the Al₄SiC₄-RGO nanocomposite might be a promising candidate for practical applications in the electrochemical detection of metal ions.

A hydrogen peroxide sensor based on TNM functionalized reduced graphene oxide grafted with highly monodisperse Pd nanoparticles

Addressed herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of a tert-nonyl mercaptan (TNM) functionalized reduced graphene oxide (rGO) supported palladium (Pd) nanoparticles (NPs) (Pd/TNM@rGO) as electrochemical sensor. The highly monodisperse Pd/TNM@rGO nanocomposite was applied for electrochemical determination of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) at a potential range of -0.6 to +0.8 V. The Pd/TNM@rGO sensor demonstrated very high activity, sensitivity, reusability and durability toward H₂O₂ sensing. The well dispersed Pd/TNM@rGO nanocomposite has been characterized by using several analytical techniques such as, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The catalytic performance of prepared biosensor was also characterized by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) methods. The proposed H₂O₂ biosensor showed a broad linear range up to 12 mM, and a very low detection limit of 0.0025 μM, with a quick response time of less than 10 s. Additionally, the biosensor exhibited great capability, reproducibility and durability for the examination of H₂O₂.

PdZn nanoparticle electrocatalysts synthesized by solution combustion for methanol oxidation reaction in an alkaline medium

Herein, we report the synthesis of PdZn nanoparticle (NP) electrocatalysts for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR).

A Facile Electrochemical Preparation of Reduced Graphene Oxide@Polydopamine Composite: A Novel Electrochemical Sensing Platform for Amperometric Detection of Chlorpromazine

We report a novel and sensitive amperometric sensor for chlorpromazine (CPZ) based on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and polydopamine (PDA) composite modified glassy carbon electrode. The RGO@PDA composite was prepared by electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) with PDA. The RGO@PDA composite modified electrode shows an excellent electro-oxidation behavior to CPZ when compared with other modified electrodes such as GO, RGO and GO@PDA. Amperometric i-t method was used for the determination of CPZ. Amperometry result shows that the RGO@PDA composite detects CPZ in a linear range from 0.03 to 967.6 μM. The sensor exhibits a low detection limit of 0.0018 μM with the analytical sensitivity of 3.63 ± 0.3 μAμM^–1cm^–2. The RGO@PDA composite shows its high selectivity towards CPZ in the presence of potentially interfering drugs such as metronidazole, phenobarbital, chlorpheniramine maleate, pyridoxine and riboflavin. In addition, the fabricated RGO@PDA modified electrode showed an appropriate recovery towards CPZ in the pharmaceutical tablets.

Galvanic replacement of electrodeposited nickel by palladium and investigation of the electrocatalytic activity of synthesized Pd/(Ni) for hydrogen evolution and formic acid oxidation

Highly active Pd/(Ni) catalysts were synthesized by well controlled galvanic replacement of electrodeposited nickel, towards hydrogen evolution and FA oxidation.

Synthesis of graphene-supported noble metal hybrid nanostructures and their applications as advanced electrocatalysts for fuel cells

Graphene (GN) is an emerging carbon material that may soon find practical applications. With its unusual properties, GN is an ideal platform for constructing a series of GN-based functional nanomaterials. Among them, GN/noble metal hybrids become one of the families of composite materials with extraordinary properties by combining the advantages of noble metal nanostructures and GN. The recent progress in the synthesis of GN/noble metal hybrids is presented first, such as in situ solution based methods, electrochemical deposition methods, self-assembly and other methods. Then, the applications of these novel GN/noble metal hybrids in fuel cells are summarized and discussed. Future research trends and challenges of design and synthesis of GN/noble metal hybrids are proposed.