Boosting glycerol electrooxidation over palladium catalyst driven by boron-incorporation

The incorporating of metalloid elements into the interstices of Pd lattice is a powerful strategy to manipulate the binding strength of surface adsorbates and thereby to boost its electrocatalytic activity and anti-poisoning for many electrocatalytic reactions. In present work, a novel nanocomposite, the boron-incorporated palladium nanoparticles anchored on the three-dimensional nitrogen-doped graphene (PdBx/NG), was firstly fabricated through a simple hydrothermal synthesis followed by a facile wet chemical reduction method. Extensive physicochemical analyses were conducted to unveil the effects of the boron-incorporation on the properties of the assynthesized electrocatalyst. More strikingly, the PdBx/NG displayed considerably boosted electrocatalytic behavior towards glycerol oxidation reaction (GOR), which largely outperformed the Pd/NG and benchmark Pd/ C. The NG endowed PdBx/NG with three-dimensional architecture, rich pores and abundant nitrogen-containing functional groups. Furthermore, the boron-incorporation enabled the electronic effect (electronic modification) and strain effect (lattice expansion) for Pd. The superior contribution of NG and boron-incorporation enhanced electrocatalytic activity and reinforced stability of PdBx/NG for GOR. This study provides an alternative way for fabricating the boron-incorporated catalysts for electrochemical reactions and beyond.