Ternary PdMoP Nanoparticles Anchored on Boron–Nitrogen Functionalized CNTs for High-Efficiency Formic Acid Electrooxidation
Feng Liu, Zhiqiang Zhu, Jinchen Fan, Qiaoxia Li, Yulin Min, Qunjie Xu
Abstract
The critical step in the commercialization of direct formic acid fuel cells is to synthesize electrocatalysts with high performance and excellent stability. In this paper, ternary PdMoPx NPs supported on boron–nitrogen functionalized carbon nanotubes (PdMoPx/OB-CNT-N) are prepared by a simple method of doping phosphorus with a reducing agent. It is used as a highly efficient catalyst for formic acid electrooxidation (FAO). The as-prepared 4–6 nm ternary PdMoP nanoparticles have good dispersibility on OB-CNT-N. Among the prepared series of catalysts, the PdMoP0.01/OB-CNT-N catalyst shows the best FAO catalytic performance, and its mass activity (2176 mA mg–1) and stability were 7 and 8.7 times higher than commercial Pd/C, respectively. The significant improvement in the electrocatalytic performance of the catalyst is mainly due to the introduction of Mo and P, which changes the electronic structure of Pd and produces dual active sites of Pd and Pd–Mo, thereby increasing the effective reaction center. The synergy between the functionalized carrier and the catalyst accelerates the charge transfer rate and promotes the mass transfer process.