Promoting effect of Ni on PdCo alloy supported on carbon for electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction

•Compared to the Pd/C, the Pd7Co2Ni1/C catalyst showed higher ORR activity by 95%.•The increased electron binding energy of the Pd7Co2Ni1/C made ORR activities improved.•The Pd7Co2Ni1/C catalyst exhibits high methanol tolerance property as well as good ORR activity.

Carbon supported Pd and Pd alloys are synthesized and characterized as cathode catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Physical and electrochemical properties of the prepared catalysts are measured by XRD, TEM, EDX, XPS, and a three electrode half cell test. Pd7Co2Ni1/C catalyst shows the highest ORR activity among the Pd based catalysts and significantly higher methanol tolerance than Pt/C. It exhibits good performance in single cell operation.

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