Preparation of core-shell Cu@PdCo nanocatalysts by one-pot seed co-reduction method for electrooxidation of ethanol

The high electrocatalytic activity of Cu@PdCo icosahedrons were synthesized via a facile, one-pot seed co-reduction method. Subsequent X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) analysis reveal that as-synthesized Cu@Pd-1, Cu@Pd-2 and Cu@PdCo-1 catalysts have core-shell structure and the average particle size reached 18.84   nm, 16.34   nm and 16.88   nm, respectively. By compared with Cu@Pd-1, Cu@Pd-2 and commercial Pd black, icosahedron morphology, special core-shell structure, surface etching exposed Pd active sites can be used to explain the superior ethanol oxidation performance of as-synthesized Cu@PdCo-1 nanocatalysts. This method is expected to lead the preparation of more multielement icosahedral core-shell catalysts for more catalytic applications.