Highly Active Hollow RhCu Nanoboxes toward Ethylene Glycol Electrooxidation

Abstract

The efficient electrocatalysts toward the ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) are highly desirable for direct ethylene glycol fuel cells because of the sluggish kinetics of anodic EGOR. Herein, porous RhCu nanoboxes are successfully prepared through facile galvanic replacement reaction and succedent sodium borohydride reduction strategy. Benefiting from hierarchical pore structure, RhCu nanoboxes display excellent electrocatalytic performance toward the EGOR in alkaline medium with a mass activity of 775.1 A gRh−1, which is 2.8 times as large as that of commercial Rh nanocrystals. Moreover, the long‐term stability of RhCu nanoboxes is better than that of commercial Rh nanocrystals. Furthermore, the theoretical calculations demonstrate that RhCu nanoboxes possess lower adsorption energy of CO and lower reaction barrier (0.27 eV) for the COads oxidation with aid of the adsorbed OHads species, resulting in the outstanding electrocatalytic performance toward the EGOR. This work provides a meaningful reference for developing highly effective electrocatalysts toward the EGOR.

A Highly Active Rh@Pd Nanocube Catalyst for Methanol Electrooxidation

“…The electrons are expected to transfer from the Pd atoms to the Rh atoms because of the lower electronegativity of Pd (2.20) than of Rh (2.28). [31] Meanwhile, the Pd 0 and Pd 2þ peaks are noted in the XPS Pd 3d spectra of Pd nanoparticles and the Rh@Pd nanocubes (Figure 1d). Notably, the intensity of the Pd 2þ peak in the Rh@Pd nanocubes is higher than that in Pd nanoparticles.…”

“…Throughout the study, the potentials were referred to a reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) by use of the Nernst equation: E RHE ¼ E SCE þ 0.242 þ 0.059 Â pH. The ECSA of Rh/C and Rh@Pd/C was measured by the equation ECSA ¼ Q H /(C Â m), where Q H is the charge for hydrogen desorption, C is the hydrogen adsorption constants (C Rh ¼ 220 μC cm À2 ), [31,40] and m is the mass of Rh on the electrode surface. The ECSA of Pd/C and Rh@Pd/C was measured by the equation ECSA ¼ Q A /(C Â m), where Q A is the charge for the reduction of www.advancedsciencenews.com www.advenergysustres.com palladium oxide, C is the theoretical amount of charge needed to reduce a layer of PdO (C Pd ¼ 220 μC cm À2 ), [41,42] and m is the mass of Pd on the electrode surface.…”

“…In the CVs of the Rh@Pd/C catalyst, the oxidation peak in the first forward scan on the Rh@Pd/C catalyst results from the Rh active sites and the second one from the Pd active sites. [35] In contrast, electrochemically active surface areas (ECSAs) of the Rh/C and Rh@Pd/C catalysts were measured by means of the hydrogen adsorption/desorption methods, [31,40] while the ECSAs of the Pd/C and Rh@Pd/C catalysts were estimated by use of the reduction current of PdO to Pd. [41,42] The calculated ECSAs of the Rh/C and Rh@Pd/C catalysts are 56.20 and 63.29 m 2 g À1 , respectively.…”

Rational Synthesis and Regulation of Hollow Structural Materials for Electrocatalytic Nitrogen Reduction Reaction

“…[ 105 , 106 ] Inspired by this, various hollow structures were developed, such as nanotubes, [ 107 , 108 ] nanorods, [ 109 , 110 ] nanospheres, [ 111 , 112 ] nanocages, [ 113 , 114 ] and nanoboxes. [ 115 , 116 ] Very recently, Xia and co‐workers reported a template regenerative galvanic replacement method that can be used to synthesize high‐diversity hollow structural materials with highly adjustable parameters (Figure 5d ). [ 117 ] They first prepared a hollow A–B alloy nanocage by galvanic replacement, and then controlled the deposition rate to selectively grow metal A in the cavity of the hollow A–B alloy nanocage.…”

Superfast tellurizing synthesis of unconventional phase-controlled small Pd-Te nanoparticles

“…Nowadays, alkaline polyols FCs are progressively gaining attention in the field of FC because polyhydric alcohols have shown unique advantages relative to methanol, such as lower toxicity, low volatility, low flammability, and high energy densities [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Unfortunately, the lack of active and stable electrocatalysts has severely impeded the large-scalable commercialization of alkaline polyols FCs [20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Palladium tellurides (Pd-Te) have been proved to be an efficient catalyst for methanol electrooxidation and ethanol electrooxidation [27].…”