Bimetallic nickel-palladium nanoparticles with low Ni content and their enhanced ethanol oxidation performance: Using a pulsed laser as modification machinery

Abstract

Currently, the synthesis of bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) is complicated and requires several chemicals and a high amount of energy. Therefore, it is crucial to advance a novel method for synthesizing bimetallic NPs with excellent electrocatalytic activity. Herein, 3 nm bimetallic nickel-palladium (NiPd) NPs were synthesized via facile pulsed laser irradiation (PLI) method without using any reducing agents. The synthesized NPs included a very low nickel (Ni) content of approximately 4-8 wt% due to the reduction potential difference between the Ni and Pd. The cohesive force between the particles also increased, based on the high Ni content. The electrochemical results indicated that the synthesized NPs showed excellent electrocatalytic activity for use in an ethanol oxidation reaction in an alkaline electrolyte. The obtained bimetallic NiPd NPs with a Ni content of 5 wt % offered a superior mass activity of 4.26 A/mg(Pd) compared with other NPs. This study highlighted that the PLI method showed great potential for synthesizing highly electrocatalytically active bimetallic NiPd NPs for use in an ethanol oxidation reaction.