Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Palladium-Copper Nanoalloys with Improved Catalytic Activity for Ethanol Electrooxidation

A facile solvothermal strategy is developed for the preparation of nanometer sized Pd-Cu alloy. We can control the morphology of these alloys with the use of ethylene glycol (EG) in the presence of KOH. Namely, by increasing the concentration of KOH/EG, the Pd-Cu alloys with different morphologies from near-spherical nanoparticles (NPs) to nanorods and nanowire networks have been prepared. Among all these alloys, near-spherical Pd-Cu NPs-modified electrodes exhibit the highest catalytic activity (11.7 mA/cm2) and stability toward the electrooxidation of ethanol in comparison with commercial Pd/C-modified ones (2.1 mA/cm2).