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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Synthesis of Platinum-nickel Nanowires and Optimization for Oxygen Reduction Performance
Published on: April 27, 2018
Golden Palladium Zinc Ordered Intermetallics as Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts
Yao Yang1,2, Weiping Xiao1, Xinran Feng2,3
1Key laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education; Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan 430074 , China.
Abstract:
Exploring Pt-free electrocatalysts with high activity and long durability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been long pursued by the renewable energy materials community. In this work, we have designed an ordered intermetallic PdZn/C (O-PdZn) with a several atomic-layer Pd shell, which achieved a 3-fold enhancement in ORR mass activities (MA) in alkaline media, relative to Pd/C and Pt/C. Further Au incorporation in O-PdZn/C (Au-O-PdZn/C) yielded a catalyst with superior durability with less than 10% loss in MA after 30000 potential cycles. These effects have attributed to the rationally designed ordered structure and stabilizing effect of Au atoms. Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy were employed to show that Au not only galvanically replaced Pd and Zn on the surface but also penetrated through the PdZn lattice and distributed uniformly within the particles. Au-O-PdZn/C was also tested as an effective oxygen cathode in broad applications in rechargeable Li-air and Zn-air batteries.
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