One-pot synthesis of PdAgCu worm-like nanowire and electrocatalytic property toward ethanol oxidation

Abstract

Multi-metallic nanoparticles composed of precious and non-precious metals have attracted attention as highperformance catalytic materials. In this study, we successfully formed PdAgCu worm-like nanoparticles by controlling the metal ions, surfactants, and reducing agents. This structure has been reported to have a high surface area, and the multi-metallic effect enhances electrochemical properties by controlling surface energy. Therefore, we compared ternary and binary alloys, Pd nanoparticles, and Pd/C catalysts in the catalytic reaction ethanol oxidation. The Pd-Ag-Cu worm-shaped nanoparticles exhibited excellent performance, with a mass activity of 2327 mA mg(-1), due to their high surface area and tri-metallic effect.