Preparation of rGO/CAU-10 anchored PdPbBi composites and their electrocatalytic ethylene glycol properties

[Display omitted] •rGO/CAU-10 loaded Pd-based trimetallic nanoalloys catalysts were facile prepared.•Pd-basedtrimetallic nanoalloys evenly dispersed on folded thin layer wrapped nanosheet rGO/CAU-10.•The best catalytic performer PdPbBi@rGO/CAU-10 shows 6.52-flod EGOR behavior than Pd/C.•Enhanced EGOR activity benefits from the combined effect of Pd-based trimetallic nanoalloys and rGO/CAU-10. An effective method to improve the catalytic performance of electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation by establishing strong interfacial interactions through novel carrier materials and polymetallic alloys. In this paper, novel polyhedral metal–organic framework Al-based [Al(OH)(mBDC)] (CAU-10) composites with PdPbBi trimetallic particles embedded in folded graphene oxide (rGO) modified by a simple hydrothermal reaction were prepared and applied to the electrocatalytic oxidation reaction of ethylene glycol. The results of electrochemical tests showed that the trimetallic catalysts exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity compared to commercial Pd/C. In particular, PdPbBi@rGO/CAU-10 has the highest peak current density of 241.82 mA cm−2, which is 8.97 times higher than that of Pd/C (26.92 mA cm−2), and the largest electrochemical active area (ECSA) value of 88.12 mA cm−2, which is 2.40 times higher than that of Pd/C (36.75 mA cm−2). This outstanding electrocatalytic activity is mainly attributed to the polyhedral structure of CAU-10 composite carriers and the abundance of oxygen-containing atoms, which is conducive to the homogeneous loading of metals, at the same time, the strong electronic effect between Pd, Pb and Bi and the abundance of oxygen-containing species provide significant enhancement of electrocatalytic activity and stability, which provides an important reference for the development of electrocatalysts for ethylene glycol fuel cells.