Lattice-strain and electron-density modulation of palladium nanocatalysts for highly efficient oxygen reduction

Guojie Chao; Longsheng Zhang; Tiantian Xue; Jing Tian; Wei Fan; Tianxi Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.05.177

Lattice-strain and electron-density modulation of palladium nanocatalysts for highly efficient oxygen reduction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Nov 15:602:159-167. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.05.177. Epub 2021 Jun 10.

Authors

Guojie Chao¹, Longsheng Zhang², Tiantian Xue³, Jing Tian³, Wei Fan³, Tianxi Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, International Joint Research Laboratory for Nano Energy Composites, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering, Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, International Joint Research Laboratory for Nano Energy Composites, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering, Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, International Joint Research Laboratory for Nano Energy Composites, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, PR China; State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering, Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 34119755
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.05.177

Abstract

Designing efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial to enhance the energy efficiencies of metal-air batteries and fuel cells. Palladium (Pd) catalysts show great potential due to their high intrinsic activity towards ORR but suffer from inferior durability. Here, we aim to employ tin oxide (SnO₂) supports to tailor the lattice strain and electron density of Pd catalysts to enhance their ORR performance. By using electrospinning and solvothermal techniques, a hierarchical Pd/SnO₂ hybrid catalyst was facilely synthesized with Pd nanoparticles anchored onto both the inside and outside walls of nanotube-like SnO₂ supports. Owing to the SnO₂ supports and the endowing metal-support interactions, tensile-strain and electron-rich features were both verified for the Pd nanoparticles in the Pd/SnO₂ catalyst. In comparison, no such features were found for the Pd nanoparticles in the Pd/C catalyst. As a consequence, the Pd/SnO₂ hybrid catalyst exhibits 2.5-times higher mass activity than the Pd/C catalyst and greatly improved durability with a current decay of 4% loss over 50 h compared with that (18%) of the Pd/C catalyst.

Keywords: Electrocatalyst; Electron density; Lattice strain; Oxygen reduction reaction.