Oxidative calcination of PdCo with unexpected electrocatalytic performance for ethylene glycol oxidation

Pd-based catalysts have been widely used in alkaline fuel cells. However, up to now, the effects of oxidation treatment of Pd-based catalysts on their application in alkaline fuel cells have been rarely reported. In this paper, PdCo nano-metal catalyst was prepared by calcination-oxidation treatment. It was found that the mass specific activity and area specific activity of the resulting PdO-Co₃O₄ nano-composite for electrocatalytic oxidation of ethylene glycol in alkaline solution were 3.8 and 2.4 times that of commercial Pt/C, respectively. Compared with PdCo nanometals, the mass specific activity and area specific activity of the PdO-Co₃O₄ nanocomposite for the electrocatalytic oxidation of ethylene glycol in the alkaline solution increased by 1.6 and 1.2 times, respectively. The experimental and calculated results showed that the surface morphology and active center of the catalyst changed after calcination and oxidation treatment. The adsorption energies of O₂ and OH on the Co doped PdO (101) surface decreased, which was beneficial to stabilize the intermediate C₂H₄OHO^*. As a result, the energy barrier for the O−H dissociation on the Co-doped surface was reduced. The strong binding of Co doped PdO (101) with ethylene glycol and its intermediate species led to different electrochemical kinetics and reaction path to produce excellent electric catalytic activity. The synergistic effect of PdO and Co₃O₄ significantly enhanced the interaction between active oxygen and catalyst surface, which not only facilitates the formation of superoxide species on the catalyst surface, but also improves the redox properties of the catalyst and promotes the electrocatalytic oxidation activity of ethylene glycol. The strategy of bi/multi-metallic oxidation proposed in this paper provides a general methodology for the construction of other catalysts.