Steering the Selective Production of Glycolic Acid by Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethylene Glycol with Nanoengineered PdBi-Based Heterodimers

Shiyu Xia; Fengxia Wu; Qixin Liu; Wenping Gao; Chenxi Guo; Haili Wei; Altaf Hussain; Yue Zhang; Guobao Xu; Wenxin Niu

doi:10.1002/smll.202400939

Steering the Selective Production of Glycolic Acid by Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethylene Glycol with Nanoengineered PdBi-Based Heterodimers

Small. 2024 Apr 15:e2400939. doi: 10.1002/smll.202400939. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shiyu Xia^{1

2}, Fengxia Wu^{1

2}, Qixin Liu^{1

2}, Wenping Gao^{1

2}, Chenxi Guo^{1

2}, Haili Wei^{1

2}, Altaf Hussain¹, Yue Zhang^{1

2}, Guobao Xu^{1

2}, Wenxin Niu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China.
² School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.

PMID: 38618653
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202400939

Abstract

Heterodimers of metal nanocrystals (NCs) with tailored elemental distribution have emerged as promising candidates in the field of electrocatalysis, owing to their unique structures featuring heterogeneous interfaces with distinct components. Despite this, the rational synthesis of heterodimer NCs with similar elemental composition remains a formidable challenge, and their impact on electrocatalysis has remained largely elusive. In this study, Pd@Bi-PdBi heterodimer NCs are synthesized through an underpotential deposition (UPD)-directed growth pathway. In this pathway, the UPD of Bi promotes a Volmer-Weber growth mode, allowing for judicious modulation of core-satellite to heterodimer structures through careful control of supersaturation and growth kinetics. Significantly, the heterodimer NCs are employed in the electrocatalytic process of ethylene glycol (EG) with high activity and selectivity. Compared with pristine Pd octahedra and common PdBi alloy NC, the unique heterodimer structure of the Pd@Bi-PdBi heterodimer NCs endows them with the highest electrocatalytic performance of EG and the best selectivity (≈93%) in oxidizing EG to glycolic acid (GA). Taken together, this work not only heralds a new strategy for UPD-directed synthesis of bimetallic NCs, but also provides a new design paradigm for steering the selectivity of electrocatalysts.

Keywords: electrochemistry; heterodimer nanocrystals; oxophilic elements; palladium; underpotential deposition.

Abstract

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