Porous dandelion-like gold@ palladium core-shell nanocrystals in-situ growth on reduced graphene oxide with improved electrocatalytic properties

A one-pot wet-chemical co-reduction route is designed for preparation of porous dandelion-like Au@Pd core-shell nanostructures in-situ grown on reduced grapheneoxide (Au@Pd/rGO) without using any premade seed. Cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) and iodide ion (I−) play important roles in this synthetic procedure. Particularly, the Pd shell thickness, particle size, composition and catalytic activity can be tuned by adjusting the concentrations of I−. The effects of composition and structure of the as-synthesized nanocomposites on the catalytic performance are investigated. The dandelion-like Au@Pd/rGO exhibited higher catalytic activity and stronger tolerance to carbonaceous species poisoning for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in contrast with Pd/rGO and commercial Pd/C catalysts in alkaline media. This strategy offers a new approach for controlled synthesis of novel nanocatalysts with enhanced catalytic performances in fuel cell.

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