title: Newly developed stepwise electroless deposition enables a remarkably facile synthesis of highly active and stable amorphous Pd nanoparticle electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction.
abstract: This paper reports on highly active and stable amorphous Pd nanoparticle electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. The amorphous catalysts were synthesized by a remarkably facile and quick electroless deposition process newly developed in this study (process time <5 min). An electrode substrate (glassy carbon, carbon cloth) was sequentially dipped for 10 s into two separate solutions of a reducing agent (sodium hypophosphite (NaH2PO2)) and Pd ions to deposit amorphous Pd nanoparticles containing phosphorus (Pd-P). By repeating the deposition cycles, the specific and mass activities of the Pd nanoparticles can be actively tuned. Owing to the nanoscale amorphous nature, the obtained Pd-P nanoparticle electrocatalysts exhibited superior specific and mass activities compared with crystalline Pd nanoparticles synthesized by another reducing agent (N2H4) and commercial Pt-loaded carbon (Pt/C) and Pd-loaded carbon (Pd/C). The specific and mass activities of the amorphous Pd-P nanoparticles were over 4.5 times and 2.6 times higher than previously reported values of Pd and Pt catalysts.
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and ∥School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
authors.forename: Kee Chun
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Desmond C L
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Thang D T
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Vo
authors.forename: Bahareh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Khezri
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato