A yolk–shell structured Pd@void@ZrO2 catalyst for direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from hydrogen and oxygen

• Pd@void@ZrO2 yolk–shellcatalystwastestedindirecthydrogenperoxidesynthesis.
• The void space in the catalyst facilitated the access of gas to the Pd surface.
• The exposed Pd area with Pd@void@ZrO2 was 1.6 times higher than with Pd@SiO2.
• Pd@void@ZrO2 was 1.2 times higher than Pd@SiO2 in terms of H2O2 production rate.

In this study, we prepared a yolk–shell structured Pd@void@ZrO2 catalyst and tested its activity in direct hydrogen synthesis from hydrogen and oxygen. The catalyst was prepared by first encapsulating the nano Pd crystal with SiO2 and then, the Pd core–silica shell composite (Pd@SiO2) was encapsulated again with ZrO2 (Pd@SiO2@ZrO2). The yolk–shell structure was obtained by etching the silica layer of Pd@SiO2@ZrO2 using 0.2 M KOH solution. Compared to the core–shell structured Pd@SiO2, the void space in the yolk–shell structure allowed more gases to access the core Pd surface. In reaction tests, the production rate of gram Pd-specific H2O2 with Pd@void@ZrO2 was approximately 1.2 times higher than with Pd@SiO2. It was found that the optimum level of halide ion concentration in the reaction medium was between 0.1 and 0.3 mM for Pd@void@ZrO2 catalyst.

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