Synthesis of porous PdAg nanoparticles with enhanced electrocatalytic activity

•Flower-shaped porous PdAg nanoparticles have been synthesized.•The developed method is very simple and effective.•Hydroquinone was used as the reductant.•The as-prepared catalyst exhibits superior electrocatalytic activity.

A facile synthesis of PdAg alloyed bimetallic nanocrystals with flower-shaped porous morphology is demonstrated. The whole synthetic process is very simple just by mixing palladium nitrate, silver nitrate, polyvinylpyrrolidone and hydroquinone and heated at 70 °C for 15 min. The prepared flower-shaped porous PdAg nanoparticles exhibit superior electrocatalytic activity toward ethanol electrooxidation in alkaline condition, and the catalytic performance could be easily tuned by the Pd/Ag ratio.