Facile Synthesis of Pd‐Ni Nanoparticles on Reduced Graphene Oxide under Microwave Irradiation for Formic Acid Oxidation

Abstract

Pd and Pd x Ni nanoparticles have been supported on reduced graphene oxide (Pd/ rGO and Pd x Ni/ rGO ) by using the microwave‐assisted heating method in glycol. The morphology, composition and electrochemical performance have been characterized by TEM , XRD , XPS and electrochemical methods. The XRD and XPS results show that there are no PdNi alloy particles formed in Pd x Ni/ rGO and the composites exist mostly in the form of Pd 0 and NiOOH species. The electrochemical results reveal that Pd x Ni/ rGO synthesized from the feeding source of Pd and Ni with an atomic ratio of 4∶1 exhibits higher activity, better stability and smaller electron transfer resistance toward formic acid electro‐oxidation compared with commercial Pd/C, Pd/ rGO and other Pd x Ni/ rGO samples. The excellent electrocatalytic performance indicates that the addition of appropriate amount of Ni can greatly enhance the activity and stability of Pd catalysts for formic acid oxidation.