Hydrothermal Method Using DMF as a Reducing Agent for the Fabrication of PdAg Nanochain Catalysts towards Ethanol Electrooxidation

In this article, we developed a facile one-step hydrothermal method using dimethyl formamide (DMF) as a reducing agent for the fabrication of PdAg catalyst. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images have shown that the as-synthesized PdAg catalyst had a nanochain structure. The energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX) spectrum presented the actual molar ratio of Pd and Ag in the PdAg alloy. Traditional electrochemical measurements, such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS), were performed using a CHI 760D electrochemical analyzer to characterize the electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized catalyst. The results have shown that the PdAg catalyst with a nanochain structure displays higher catalytic activity and stability than pure Pd and commercial Pd/C catalysts.