Synthesis and oxygen reduction electrocatalytic property of Pt-on-Pd bimetallic heteronanostructures

Platinum-on-palladium bimetallic heterogeneous nanostructures were prepared using a sequential synthetic method, in which 3-nm Pt particles grew on the surfaces of 5-nm Pd nanoparticles. Electrochemical study of carbon-supported Pt-on-Pd heteronanostructures shows not only enhancement in electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) but also much improved stability in comparison to a commercial platinum catalyst (E-TEK, 20 wt % Pt, diameter: 2.5 nm). The greatly suppressed hydroxyl adsorption on active sites by introducing Pd was attributed to the enhanced activity, while the retention of active surface area, morphology, and composition because of the large overall bimetallic particle size and unique architectures could be the key factors for the much improved stability over 30,000 cycles. Our work shows heterogeneous platinum-on-metal bimetallic nanostructures offer new opportunities to the design of hierarchically ordered multifunctional fuel cell catalysts.