PdCuNi Ternary Alloy Nanodendrites for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Formic Acid, Methanol, and Ethanol

Alloying engineering and morphology modulation stand out as core approaches for boosting the nanocatalyst performance. Herein, PdCuNi ternary alloy nanodendrites were synthesized via a facile route with the aim of tackling the bottlenecks of insufficient activity and inferior stability associated with conventional Pd-based catalysts toward fuel cell electrocatalysis. Electrochemical evaluations reveal that PdCuNi NDs deliver substantially enhanced electrocatalytic activity and durability. Specifically, the mass activity for formic acid oxidation reaches 1703.21 mA mgPd-1, which is 1.70- and 2.90-fold higher than those of PdCu NDs and Pd/C, respectively. After 500 accelerated durability test (ADT) cycles, the residual mass activity and retention rate of PdCuNi NDs are 80.79 and 18.24 times those of Pd/C, respectively, manifesting their significantly improved stability. Additionally, PdCuNi NDs display superior electrocatalytic performance toward methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). These results underscore the promising potential of PdCuNi NDs as high-performance anode electrocatalysts for direct liquid fuel cells.