Combining Bismuth Telluride and Palladium for High Efficiency Glycerol Electrooxidation

Graphical Two-dimensional hexagonal bismuth telluride (Bi 2 Te 3 ) nanosheet were successfully synthesized by a facile solvothermal method, and then coupled with Pd by a microwave-assisted ethylene glycol reduction method to obtain the Pd/Bi 2 Te 3 composite, which delivered superior catalytic performance for the electrooxidation of glycerol in alkaline medium. Designing high-performance anodic catalysts to drive glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR) is essential for advancing direct alcohol fuel cells. Coupling Pd with oxophilic materials is an effective strategy to enhance its intrinsic catalytic activity. In this study, we successfully synthesized Pd/Bi 2 Te 3 catalysts with tunable compositions, using Bi 2 Te 3 as a novel promoter, and applied them to the GOR for the first time. Electrocatalytic tests revealed that the activity of the Pd/Bi 2 Te 3 catalysts was closely linked to their compositions. Among these catalysts, the optimized Pd/Bi 2 Te 3 -20 % showed potential to replace the commercial Pd/C catalyst, exhibiting a peak current density 5.2 times higher than that of the benchmark Pd/C catalyst. Furthermore, improved catalytic stability and faster catalytic kinetics were observed for Pd/Bi 2 Te 3 -20 %. The synergistic effect between Pd and Bi 2 Te 3 is responsible for the high performance of the Pd/Bi 2 Te 3 -20 % catalyst.