PdCu alloy nanoparticle-decorated copper nanotubes as enhanced electrocatalysts: DFT prediction validated by experiment.
In order to combine the advantages of both 0D and 1D nanostructured materials into a single catalyst, density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been used to study the PdCu alloy NP-decorated Cu nanotubes (PdCu@CuNTs). These present a significant improvement of the electrocatalytic activity of formic acid oxidation (FAO). Motivated by our theoretical work, we adopted the seed-mediated growth method to successfully synthesize the nanostructured PdCu@CuNTs. The new catalysts triple the catalytic activity for FAO, compared with commercial Pd/C. In summary, our work provides a new strategy for the DFT prediction and experimental synthesis of novel metal NP-decorated 1D nanostructures as electrocatalysts for fuel cells.
International Research Center for Soft Matter, State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, People's Republic of China.
Dengfeng
D
Wu
Haoxiang
H
Xu
Dapeng
D
Cao
Adrian
A
Fisher
Yi
Y
Gao
Daojian
D
Cheng