Electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation on nanoporous Pd/NiO composites prepared by one-step dealloying

•Nanoporous Pd/NiO composites were prepared by one-step dealloying strategy.•The composites exhibited a three-dimensional nanoporous structure.•The performance of the as-prepared sample was 4 times that of nanoporous Pd.

Nanoporous Pd/NiO composites were prepared for methanol oxidation in alkaline media by one-step dealloying from the melt-spun Al–Pd–Ni precursor alloys. The structure, morphology, composition and electrocatalytic activities of the composites were characterized. The results demonstrated that the composites exhibited a uniform bicontinuous and interpenetrating three-dimensional nanoporous structure. Pore channels with a length of less than 10 nm ran throughout the whole ribbons. The nanoporous Pd/NiO composites possessed better electrocatalytic performance compared to nanoporous Pd, and the composite dealloyed from Al84.7Pd15Ni0.3 showed the highest catalytic activity, which was about 4 times as high as that of nanoporous Pd. The improvement of the electrocatalytic properties was attributed to the increased electrochemical active specific surface areas and the synergistic effect between Pd and NiO.

Graphical abstractSchematic illustration of the methanol oxidation mechanism on the np-Pd/NiO composites in alkaline media.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide