Rapid Room-Temperature Synthesis of a Metastable Ordered Intermetallic Electrocatalyst

Abstract

Metal alloys with atomic scale ordering (ordered intermetallics) have emerged as a new class of high performance materials for mediating electrochemical reactions. However, ordered intermetallic nanostructures often require long synthesis times and/or high temperature annealing to form because a high-activation energy barrier for interdiffusion must be overcome for the constituent metals to equilibrate into ordered structures. Here we report the direct synthesis of metastable ordered intermetallic Pd₃₁Bi₁₂ at room-temperature in minutes via electrochemical deposition. Pd₃₁Bi₁₂ is highly active for the reduction of O₂ to H₂O, delivering specific activities over 35× higher than those of commercial Pt and Pd nanocatalysts, placing it as the most active Pd-based catalyst, to the best of our knowledge, reported under similar testing conditions. Stability tests demonstrate minimal loss of activity after 10,000 cycles, and a retention of intermetallic crystallinity. This study demonstrates a new method of preparing ordered intermetallics with extraordinary catalytic activity at room temperature, providing a new direction in catalyst discovery and synthesis.