Unexpected electrocatalytic activity of the milled mixture containing PdCl2 and multi-walled carbon nanotubes towards ethanol oxidation reaction

A novel finding, that the ground mixture containing PdCl2 and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) (denoted as PdCl2/MWCNTs) has an unexpected electrocatalytic activity towards ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR), is reported for the first time in this work. The influence of grinding periods on the properties of the resultant PdCl2/MWCNTs mixture is preliminarily investigated. The resultant samples are thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD results indicate that although the crystallinities of the prepared samples decrease with increasing the grinding period, no novel phase is displayed in the prepared samples. The electrocatalytic activity of the resultant samples for EOR is studied by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA). And it is revealed that the electrocatalytic activity of the resulting mixture for EOR is closely related to the grinding period and the best electrocatalytic activity towards EOR is exhibited by the 15 min-ground mixture. The work described in this work provides a novel concept that the ground mixture containing palladium salts and MWCNTs can also be employed as electrocatalysts for EOR.