Palladium Nanoparticle-Decorated Porous Carbon Nanoflakes as High-Activity Catalyst for Electrooxidation of Alcohol.

A facile technique for the preparation of a multicomponent electrocatalyst that shows promising activity for the electrooxidation of alcohol has been demonstrated. The synthesis involves the preparation of hyper-crosslinked polydichloroxylene solid nanoflakes that are hybridized with PdCl₂. The hybrid is reduced in an aqueous NaBH₄ solution to fabricate Pd nanoparticle-decorated hyper-crosslinked polydichloroxylene. Finally, the polymer-supported palladium nanoparticles are subjected to thermal pyrolysis to form Pd-decorated carbon nanoflakes. The unique porous construction of these carbon nanoflakes result in high surface area and robust stability. The evaluation of the Pd-decorated carbon nanoflakes electrocatalyst shows improved performance and stability with high reaction efficiency for the electrooxidation of alcohols such as methanol.