Unexpected Activity for Glycerol Electro‐Oxidation of Nanostructured Pd−Pt and Pd−Pt−Ru Catalysts

Abstract

Ruthenium-modified palladium/platinum bimetallic materials were synthesized at nanoscale by using the formic acid method. This soft and surfactant-less chemical approach led to a trimetallic catalyst (Pd 25 Pt 25 Ru 50 /C) that displayed excellent ability toward glycerol oxidation and also a favorable capacity for CO oxidation, as a probing molecule. In the case of glycerol, the main oxidation peak shifted remarkably from 500 mV towards lower electrode potentials. From cyclic voltammetry combined with in situ infrared spectroscopy experiments, our findings provided evidence of weakly adsorbed carbonaceous species on the trimetallic electrode, probably owing to the ligand effect.

Decorating Pt/C Nanoparticles with Ru by Wall‐Jet Configuration: The Role of Coverage Degree on the Catalyst Activity for Glycerol Electrooxidation

“…Much effort has been spent to synthesize, characterize, and apply new multi‐metallic catalysts for glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GEOR) . Among the emerging catalysts, we should give special attention to Ru‐based materials, since their synthesis has been widely used and improved for almost 30 years . Such knowledge made PtRu nanoparticles (NPs) broadly commercialized and available.…”

“…Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the use of PtRu may improve the electrooxidation of adsorbed CO, which will lead to an enhanced GEOR, accordingly. However, even considering the long‐time‐application of PtRu material in electrocatalysis, few researches have addressed the use of PtRu‐based catalysts for GEOR .…”

“…Garcia et al. also investigated GEOR in alkaline medium and found improved activity by using ternary Ru‐content catalysts . All of these relevant works report alloys or segregated NPs obtained by co‐synthesizing PtRu catalysts, where the understanding of the complex inner and surface crystallographic structure of the material makes the interpretation of the surface reaction difficult.…”

Ultrasmall Pd‐Cu‐Pt Trimetallic Twin Icosahedrons Boost the Electrocatalytic Performance of Glycerol Oxidation at the Operating Temperature of Fuel Cells

“…Thus, many endeavors had been paid to push DGFC forward and made great progress by different research groups . Coutanceau et al showed bimetallic Pd 4 Bi porous alloy nanostructures with a mass activity (MA) of around 0.8 A mg −1 Pd toward glycerol electro‐oxidation in KOH electrolyte, and found that aldehydes, ketones, and hydroxypyruvate were the main intermediates .…”

Promotion of Glycerol Oxidation by Selective Ru Decoration of (100) Domains at Nanostructured Pt Electrodes

“…This approach can also be extended to trimetallic nanoparticles, as shown by Garcia et al . in their recent paper on glycerol oxidation at Pd−Pt−Ru in alkaline media …”