High performance self-supporting 3D nanoporous PdNi alloy foam for methanol oxidation electrocatalysis

Low-cost and high-activity electrocatalyst is crucial to the development of fuel cells. In this work, methanol oxidation electrocatalysis for self-supporting three-dimension (3D) nanoporous PdNi alloy foam (NP-PdNi) is studied in an alkaline solution. The nanoscale foam structure of the NP-PdNi effectively reduces the Pd usage and catalyst cost, and the interaction between Pd and Ni improves the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) efficiency. As a MOR catalyst, the NP-PdNi exhibits good stability and superior electrocatalytic activity in alkaline media compared with single 3D nanoporous Pd foam (NP-Pd). Thereinto, the NP-PdNi from the Al 85 Pd 11 Ni 4 ribbons presents the best electrocatalytic activity (595.0 mA mg −1 ) and durability (239.9 mA mg −1 ) after testing for 3000 s, achieving factor of 2.4 and 3.0 enhancement over NP-Pd sample (249.6 mA mg −1 and 78.7 mA mg −1 ), respectively.