Mesoporous carbon confined palladium–copper alloy composites for high performance nitrogen selective nitrate reduction electrocatalysis. (20th February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fan, Jianwei; Xu, Huawei; Lv, Menghua; Wang, Jinxiu; Teng, Wei; Ran, Xianqiang; Gou, Xiao; Wang, Xiaomin; Sun, Yu; Yang, Jianping
• Is Part Of: New journal of chemistry. Volume 41:Number 6(2017)
• Page Start: 2349
• Page End: 2357
• Publication Date: 2017-02-20
• Subjects: Chemistry -- Periodicals; Chimie -- Périodiques; 540
• DOI: 10.1039/c6nj03994d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1144-0546

Abstract

Abstract : A mesoporous carbon confined PdCu bimetallic electrocatalyst is fabricated, which delivers a superior nitrate conversion yield and nitrogen selectivity. Abstract : Palladium–copper (PdCu) alloy has been proved to be a promising electrocatalyst for the reduction of nitrate. The challenges, however, include how to design this catalyst with controllable particle sizes, uniform distribution, and avoiding the leakage and reducing the consumption of noble metals. Herein, we report the synthesis of a mesoporous carbon supported PdCu bimetallic electrocatalyst by using mesoporous silica SBA-15 as the hard template. The PdCu nanoparticles are uniformly embedded in the ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) framework (PdCu@OMC), leading to a high loading amount of PdCu alloy of ∼22.41 wt%, a large specific surface area of 1091 m 2 g −1 and a pore volume of 0.74 cm 3 g −1 . Significantly, the resultant PdCu@OMC composites deliver superior electrocatalytic capability in 50 mL mixed solution (500 mg of nitric nitrogen per liter) under neutral conditions, with a nitrate conversion yield of 28.7% and a nitrogen selectivity of 74%.