Synthesis and electrocatalytic activity of highly porous hollow palladium nanoshells for oxygen reduction in alkaline solution

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

<P>A series of hollow Pd nanoshells are prepared by employing Co nanoparticles as sacrificial templates with different concentrations of a Pd precursor (1, 6, 12, 20, and 40 mM K<SUB>2</SUB>PdCl<SUB>4</SUB>), denoted hPd-<I>X</I> (<I>X</I>: concentration of K<SUB>2</SUB>PdCl<SUB>4</SUB> in mM unit). The synthesized hPd series are tested as a cathodic electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solution. The morphology and surface area of the hPd catalysts are characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Rotating disk electrode (RDE) voltammetric studies show that the hPd-20 (prepared using 20 mM K<SUB>2</SUB>PdCl<SUB>4</SUB>) has the highest ORR activity among all the hPd series, while being comparable to commercial Pd and Pt catalysts (E-TEK). The more facilitated ORR at hPd-20 is presumably induced by the enhanced Pd surface area and efficiently high porosity of Pd nanoshells.</P>

<P>Graphic Abstract</P><P>An optimized Pd precursor concentration allows the most efficient porosity and largest active surface area of hollow Pd nanoshells exhibiting improved electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction.
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