Graphene nanosheet-supported Pd nano-leaves with highly efficient electrocatalytic performance for formic acid oxidation.

This paper reports a facile electrochemical approach for synthesizing the Pd nano-leaves supported on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The as-synthesized Pd nano-leaves/RGO/GCE catalyst has been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM images show that a large number of Pd nano-leaves are uniformly deposited on the surface of RGO. Electrochemical measurements indicate that the as-synthesized Pd nano-leaves/RGO/GCE catalyst displays higher electrocatalytic activity and stronger poisoning-tolerance towards formic acid oxidation reaction as compared to the Pd nano-leaves/GCE and commercial Pd/C/GCE catalysts. This work explores a novel approach for the formation of nano-leaves structure, which can provide its important application in fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]