Dendritic defect-rich palladium–copper–cobalt nanoalloys as robust multifunctional non-platinum electrocatalysts for fuel cells

Recently, the development of high-performance non-platinum electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications has been gaining attention. Palladium-based nanoalloys are considered as promising candidates to substitute platinum catalysts for cathodic and anodic reactions in fuel cells. Here, we develop a facile route to synthesize dendritic palladium–copper–cobalt trimetallic nanoalloys as robust multifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction and formic acid oxidation. To the best of our knowledge, the mass activities of the dendritic Pd(59)Cu(30)Co(11) nanoalloy toward oxygen reduction and formic acid oxidation are higher than those previously reported for non-platinum metal nanocatalysts. The Pd(59)Cu(30)Co(11) nanoalloys also exhibit superior durability for oxygen reduction and formic acid oxidation as well as good antimethanol/ethanol interference ability compared to a commercial platinum/carbon catalyst. The high performance of the dendritic Pd(59)Cu(30)Co(11) nanoalloys is attributed to a combination of effects, including defects, a synergistic effect, change of d-band center of palladium, and surface strain.