Tailoring the electronic structure of PdAg_(x) alloy nanowires for high oxygen reduction reaction

Lowering the cost while maintaining the highly catalytic performance is greatly beneficial for the development of commercial fuel cells and metal-air batteries.Compared with platinum,palladium holds a stronger oxygen affinity and high abundance on earth,endowing it a promising alternative to platinum in anion-exchange membrane fuel cells.However,the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction of palladium still remains a great issue and requires the design of stable and efficient palladium-based electrocatalysts.Here,we report the solvothermal/hydrothermal reduction method to prepare a series of PdAg_(x)nanowires.The prepared PdAg_(x)NWs exhibit hollow structure,which greatly improves the utilization of Pd atoms,offering an outstanding ORR performance.Specifically,PdAg_(2)NWs exhibit an onset potential of 0.92 V and mass activity of 350.7 mA mgPd^(-1)at 0.7 V vs.RHE for ORR in 0.1 M KOH solution.This work provides a novel approach for the construction of hollow NWs and their subsequent applications in other electrocatalytic reactions.