Investigation of nanoporous carbon supported palladium–zinc nanocomposites as anode catalysts for direct borohydride–hydrogen peroxide fuel cell

•NPC supported Pd–Zn nanocomposites are firstly used as anode catalysts for DBHFC.•The average size of the Pd–Zn nanoparticles is around 3.1 nm.•The DBHFC with Pd2Zn/NPC anode shows the maximum power density of 103.93 mW cm−2.

A series of nanoporous carbon supported Pd–Zn catalysts (PdxZn/NPC, x = 1, 2, 3) have been successfully prepared via impregnation-reduction method and firstly employed as anode catalysts for direct borohydride-hydrogen peroxide fuel cell (DBHFC). The properties of the PdxZn/NPC electrocatalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and single fuel cell test. The TEM images of Pd2Zn/NPC catalyst reveal that the metal particles with a size of approximately 3.1 nm are uniformly dispersed on the nanoporous carbon (NPC). Besides, all the PdxZn/NPC catalysts exhibit enhanced catalytic activity and stability for BH4−BH4− electrooxidation compared to monometallic Pd/NPC in the electrochemical tests. Especially, the Pd2Zn/NPC catalyst exhibits the highest electrocatalytic activity toward borohydride oxidation among the four catalysts. Moreover, the DBHFC equipped with the Pd2Zn/NPC anode also presents an excellent cell performance with the maximum power density as high as 103.93 mW cm−2 at 25 °C.