Synthesis of ultrathin FePtPd nanowires and their use as catalysts for methanol oxidation reaction

We report a facile synthesis of ultrathin (2.5 nm) trimetallic FePtPd alloy nanowires (NWs) with tunable compositions and controlled length (<100 nm). The NWs were made by thermal decomposition of Fe(CO)(5) and sequential reduction of Pt(acac)(2) (acac = acetylacetonate) and Pd(acac)(2) at temperatures from 160 to 240 °C. These FePtPd NWs showed composition-dependent catalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation reaction. Among FePtPd and FePt NWs as well as Pd, Pt, and PtPd nanoparticles (NPs) studied in 0.2 M methanol and 0.1 M HClO(4) solution, the Fe(28)Pt(38)Pd(34) NWs showed the highest activity, with their mass current density reaching 488.7 mA/mg Pt and peak potential for methanol oxidation decreasing to 0.614 V from 0.665 V (Pt NP catalyst). The NW catalysts were also more stable than the NP catalysts, with the Fe(28)Pt(38)Pd(34) NWs retaining the highest mass current density (98.1 mA/mg Pt) after a 2 h current-time test at 0.4 V. These trimetallic NWs are a promising new class of catalyst for methanol oxidation reaction and for direct methanol fuel cell applications.     

高活性甲醇氧化电催化剂Pt-Pd纳米合金的组分可控合成

Pt纳米粒子由于其本身独特的物理、化学性质以及能够同时促进氧化和还原反应,在工业生产和商业设备中(尤其在直接甲醇燃料电池中)广泛用作重要的电催化剂.然而,Pt作为贵金属在自然界中的含量极其稀少,价格昂贵;另外,甲醇氧化反应中产生的中间产物CO很容易市Pt纳米粒子中毒而失活.因此,迫切需要一种Pt用量少,催化性能高的材料.一制备高活性比表面积的Pt纳米颗粒,可以有效提高Pt利用率.另外,调控纳米粒子使其裸露特定的晶面、边、角以及缺陷也能有效提升催化性能.还可以采用Pt纳米粒子结合其它金属元素形成双金属合金,如,Pt-M (M = Pd,Au,Ag,Ru,Fe,Co,Ni,等)催化剂,可以在减少Pt元素用量的同时有效提升催化活性.在众多可供选择的元素中,Pd相对于Pt价格低廉,但两者具有相近的物理、化学性质以及较高的电催化性能,使Pt-Pd纳米合金呈现十分优异的电催化性能.研究表明,Pt-Pd纳米合金在酸性和CO环境中能有效催化有机小分子电氧化过程.另外,在酸性环境中,用Pd替代Cu,Ag,Co或Ni,可以有效减少催化剂的腐蚀.本文在乙二醇溶液中同时还原K2PtCl4和Na2PdCl4,在110 ℃C反应5 h制备出超细的Pt-Pd纳米合金.通过X射线衍射(XRD)、透射电子显微镜(TEM)、高分辨透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)以及能谱仪(EDS)对合金进行表征,从而确定产物为尺寸4 nm左右的Pt-Pd纳米合金,且通过改变金属前驱体的投料比可以有效调控Pt-Pd合金组分(按元素比例分别表示为Pt1Pd3,Pt1Pd1,Pt3Pd1).采用循环伏安法、线性扫描伏安法以及计时安培法等多种手段测试样品在0.5 mol/L H2SO4和0.5 mol/L CH3OH的酸性环境中(50 mV/s)电化学性能,并与商业Pt/C进行比较.结果表明,合金的催化性能和组分密切相关,当Pt元素的含量为75%左右时,Pt-Pd纳米合金表现出最佳的催化活性和稳定性,其中Pt3Pd1的电催化质量活性可达商业Pt/C的7倍之多.我们把Pt-Pd纳米合金的催化性能对其组分的依赖性归结为甲醇氧化反应中的双官能团机制,反应中,Pt可有效催化甲醇脱氢产生Pt-CO,Pd则催化水脱氢形成Pd-OH.当Pd含量减少时,Pt表面的水脱氢反应只有在高电位才能发生,从而降低催化效率;而Pd含量过多,则会抑制Pt催化甲醇的脱氢反应,使催化效率大大降低.因此,只有适宜Pt/Pd比例,才能有效提升催化效率.     

石墨烯负载PtPd纳米催化剂的合成及其电催化氧化甲醇性能

采用改进的Hummers法制备氧化石墨烯,然后以其为载体前驱体,以三嵌段共聚物P123为还原剂、保护剂和形貌控制剂,分别采用液相共还原法和连续还原法,制备了三种石墨烯负载PtPd(PtPd/G)纳米催化剂;氧化石墨烯与金属前驱体同步还原,从而达到原位负载的效果。采用X射线衍射(XRD)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)等表征方法分析了PtPd/G纳米催化剂的形貌、结构和组成,结果表明:采用共还原法得到的两种催化剂均为纳米枝结构;采用连续还原法得到了空心纳米结构。电化学循环伏安法和计时电流法研究表明:空心结构PtPd/G纳米催化剂抗CO中毒能力最强,100°C下共还原合成的PtPd/G纳米枝催化剂具有最佳的电催化氧化甲醇性能,约是商业化Pt/C催化剂的1.5倍。     

Phase and Interface Engineering of Platinum–Nickel Nanowires for Efficient Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution

The design of high‐performance electrocatalysts for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desirable for the development of alkaline water electrolysis. Phase‐ and interface‐engineered platinum–nickel nanowires (Pt‐Ni NWs) are highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline HER. The phase and interface engineering is achieved by simply annealing the pristine Pt‐Ni NWs under a controlled atmosphere. Impressively, the newly generated nanomaterials exhibit superior activity for the alkaline HER, outperforming the pristine Pt‐Ni NWs and commercial Pt/C, and also represent the best alkaline HER catalysts to date. The enhanced HER activities are attributed to the superior phase and interface structures in the engineered Pt‐Ni NWs.     

Microfluidic Synthesis Enables Dense and Uniform Loading of Surfactant‐Free PtSn Nanocrystals on Carbon Supports for Enhanced Ethanol Oxidation

Developing new synthetic methods for carbon supported catalysts with improved performance is of fundamental importance in advancing proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology. Continuous‐flow, microfluidic reactions in capillary tube reactors are described, which are capable of synthesizing surfactant‐free, ultrafine PtSn alloyed nanoparticles (NPs) on various carbon supports (for example, commercial carbon black particles, carbon nanotubes, and graphene sheets). The PtSn NPs are highly crystalline with sizes smaller than 2 nm, and they are highly dispersed on the carbon supports with high loadings up to 33 wt %. These characteristics make the as‐synthesized carbon‐supported PtSn NPs more efficient than state of the art commercial Pt/C catalysts applied to the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). Significantly enhanced mass catalytic activity (two‐times that of Pt/C) and improved stability are obtained.     

Composite of Pt–Ru supported SnO2 nanowires grown on carbon paper for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

Platinum–ruthenium (Pt–Ru) nanoparticles were successfully deposited, for the first time, on the surface of SnO₂ nanowires grown directly on carbon paper (Pt–Ru/SnO₂ NWs/carbon paper) by potentiostatic electrodeposition method. The resultant Pt–Ru/SnO₂ NWs/carbon paper composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrocatalytic activities of these composite electrodes for methanol oxidation were investigated and higher mass and specific activities in methanol oxidation were exhibited as compared to Pt–Ru catalysts deposited on glassy carbon electrode.     

Co‐doped Pt Nanowire Networks with Clean Surfaces for Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reactions

Surfactants or capping agents are usually employed to control the shapes and sizes of metal nanowires (NWs). Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and oleylamine (OAm) are the most common capping agents used in the synthesis of metal nanowires. However, these capping agents bind strongly onto the surface of the nanowires and severely prevent the reactant molecules from entering the active sites. In the present research, a facile acetic acid/NaBH₄ treatment technology is reported to effectively remove PVP and OAm from the surface of the co‐doped Pt NWs. Interestingly, the morphology of poor crystalline platinum nanowires treated with NaBH₄ solution is transformed into nanowire networks (NWNs) with higher crystallinity. Furthermore, in comparison with the commercial Pt/C catalyst, the catalytic activity of co‐doped Pt NWNs with clean surfaces shows improvements of up to 4.1 times for mass activity and 5.1 times for specific activity, respectively.     

One-step synthesis of carbon-supported Pd–Pt alloy electrocatalysts for methanol tolerant oxygen reduction

A facile, one-step reduction route was developed to synthesize Pd-rich carbon-supported Pd–Pt alloy electrocatalysts of different Pd/Pt atomic ratios. As-prepared Pd–Pt/C catalysts exhibit a single phase fcc structure and an expansion lattice parameter. Comparison of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the Pd–Pt/C alloy catalysts indicates that the Pd₃Pt₁/C bimetallic catalyst exhibits the highest ORR activity among all the Pd–Pt alloy catalysts and shows a comparative ORR activity with the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, all the Pd–Pt alloy catalysts exhibited much higher methanol tolerance during the ORR than the commercial Pt/C catalyst. High methanol tolerance of the Pd–Pt alloy catalysts could be attributed to the weak adsorption of methanol induced by the composition effect, to the presence of Pd atoms and to the formation of Pd-based alloys.     

炭载Pt-Ag双金属催化剂对甲醇氧化反应的电催化

以NaBH4为还原剂,将K2PtCl6和AgNO3前体进行共还原制备了一系列具有不同组成的碳载PtmAg/C合金催化剂（m为Pt/Ag原子比,m为0.05～1.0）,在酸性介质中考察了该系列催化剂对甲醇氧化反应的电催化性能。 与单组分Pt/C催化剂相比,系列PtmAg/C催化剂呈现出较高的催化氧化甲醇的活性与抗CO毒化能力,而且该催化剂的性能与其组成密切相关。 随m值增加,PtmAg/C催化剂对甲醇氧化反应的质量比催化活性(MSA)、本征催化活性(IA)与稳定性均逐步增加,当m=0.5时催化活性达到最高,其MSA和IA分别是Pt/C催化剂的5.1和4.8倍。     

Small-sized and contacting Pt-WC nanostructures on graphene as highly efficient anode catalysts for direct methanol fuel cells

The synergistic effect between Pt and WC is beneficial for methanol electro-oxidation, and makes Pt-WC catalyst a promising anode candidate for the direct methanol fuel cell. This paper reports on the design and synthesis of small-sized and contacting Pt-WC nanostructures on graphene that bring the synergistic effect into full play. Firstly, DFT calculations show the existence of a strong covalent interaction between WC and graphene, which suggests great potential for anchoring WC on graphene with formation of small-sized, well-dispersed WC particles. The calculations also reveal that, when Pt attaches to the pre-existing WC/graphene hybrid, Pt particles preferentially grow on WC rather than graphene. Our experiments confirmed that highly disperse WC nanoparticles (ca. 5?nm) can indeed be anchored on graphene. Also, Pt particles 2-3?nm in size are well dispersed on WC/graphene hybrid and preferentially grow on WC grains, forming contacting Pt-WC nanostructures. These results are consistent with the theoretical findings. X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy further confirms the intimate contact between Pt and WC, and demonstrates that the presence of WC can facilitate the crystallinity of Pt particles. This new Pt-WC/graphene catalyst exhibits a high catalytic efficiency toward methanol oxidation, with a mass activity 1.98 and 4.52 times those of commercial PtRu/C and Pt/C catalysts, respectively.     

Small‐Sized and Contacting Pt–WC Nanostructures on Graphene as Highly Efficient Anode Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

The synergistic effect between Pt and WC is beneficial for methanol electro‐oxidation, and makes Pt–WC catalyst a promising anode candidate for the direct methanol fuel cell. This paper reports on the design and synthesis of small‐sized and contacting Pt–WC nanostructures on graphene that bring the synergistic effect into full play. Firstly, DFT calculations show the existence of a strong covalent interaction between WC and graphene, which suggests great potential for anchoring WC on graphene with formation of small‐sized, well‐dispersed WC particles. The calculations also reveal that, when Pt attaches to the pre‐existing WC/graphene hybrid, Pt particles preferentially grow on WC rather than graphene. Our experiments confirmed that highly disperse WC nanoparticles (ca. 5 nm) can indeed be anchored on graphene. Also, Pt particles 2–3 nm in size are well dispersed on WC/graphene hybrid and preferentially grow on WC grains, forming contacting Pt–WC nanostructures. These results are consistent with the theoretical findings. X‐ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy further confirms the intimate contact between Pt and WC, and demonstrates that the presence of WC can facilitate the crystallinity of Pt particles. This new Pt–WC/graphene catalyst exhibits a high catalytic efficiency toward methanol oxidation, with a mass activity 1.98 and 4.52 times those of commercial PtRu/C and Pt/C catalysts, respectively.     

Interfacial Engineering in PtNiCo/NiCoS Nanowires for Enhanced Electrocatalysis and Electroanalysis

Searching for new anti-poisoning Pt-based catalysts with enhanced activity for alcohol oxidation is the key in direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs). However, in the traditional strategy for designing bimetallic or multimetallic alloy is still difficult to achieve a satisfactory heterogeneous electrocatalyst because the activity often depends on only the surface atoms. Herein, we fabricate the multicomponent active sites by creating a sulfide structure on 1D PtNiCo trimetallic nanowires (NWs), to give a PtNiCo/NiCoS interface NWs (IFNWs). Owing to the presence of sulfide interfaces, the PtNiCo/NiCoS IFNWs enable an impressive methanol/ethanol oxidation reaction (MOR/EOR) performance and excellent anti-CO poisoning tolerance. They have the MOR and EOR mass activities of 2.25 Amg^-1_Pt and 1.62 Amg^-1_Pt, around 1.26, 3.21 and 1.46, 2.96 times higher than those of PtNiCo NWs and commercial Pt/C, respectively. CO-stripping and XPS measurements further demonstrate that the new interfacial structure and optimal bonding of Pt−CO can result in accelerating the removal of surface adsorbed carbonaceous intermediates. Moreover, such a unique structure has also demonstrated a much-improved ability for the electrochemical detection of some important molecules (H₂O₂ and NH₂NH₂).     

Advanced Catalytic Performance of Au–Pt Double‐Walled Nanotubes and Their Fabrication through Galvanic Replacement Reaction

Bimetallic tubular nanostructures have been the focus of intensive research as they have very interesting potential applications in various fields including catalysis and electronics. In this paper, we demonstrate a facile method for the fabrication of Au–Pt double‐walled nanotubes (Au–Pt DWNTs). The DWNTs are fabricated through the galvanic displacement reaction between Ag nanowires and various metal ions, and the Au–Pt DWNT catalysts exhibit high active catalytic performances toward both methanol electro‐oxidation and 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) reduction. First, they have a high electrochemically active surface area of 61.66 m² g^?1, which is close to the value of commercial Pt/C catalysts (64.76 m² g^?1), and the peak current density of Au–Pt DWNTs in methanol oxidation is recorded as 138.25 mA mg^?1, whereas those of Pt nanotubes, Au/Pt nanotubes (simple mixture), and commercial Pt/C are 24.12, 40.95, and120.65 mA mg^?1, respectively. The Au–Pt DWNTs show a markedly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation compared with the other three catalysts. They also show an excellent catalytic performance in comparison with common Au nanotubes for 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) reduction. The attractive performance exhibited by these prepared Au–Pt DWNTs can be attributed to their unique structures, which make them promising candidates as high‐performance catalysts.     

一步法制备还原态氧化石墨烯载铂纳米粒子及其对甲醇氧化的电催化性能

以天然石墨为原料,采用改进的Hummers法制备氧化石墨.然后采用简单的一步化学还原法在乙二醇(EG)中同时还原氧化石墨烯(GO)和H₂PtCl₆制备高分散的铂/还原态氧化石墨烯(Pt/RGO)催化剂.采用傅里叶变换红外(FTIR)光谱、X射线衍射(XRD)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)对催化剂的微结构、组成和形貌进行表征.结果表明, GO已被还原成RGO, Pt纳米粒子均匀分散在RGO表面,粒径约为2.3 nm.采用循环伏安法和计时电流法评价催化剂对甲醇氧化的电催化性能,测试结果表明, Pt/RGO催化剂对甲醇氧化的电催化活性和稳定性与Pt/C和Pt/CNT相比有了很大提高.另外其对甲醇电催化氧化的循环伏安图中正扫峰电流密度(I_f)和反扫峰电流密度(I_b)的比值高达1.3,分别是Pt/C和Pt/CNT催化剂的2.2和1.9倍,表明Pt/RGO催化剂具有高的抗甲醇氧化中间体CO_ad的中毒能力.     

Porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube array electrocatalyst with high activity and stability for methanol oxidation

Bimetallic core-shell nanostructures are emerging as more important materials than monometallic nanostructures, and have much more interesting potential applications in various fields, including catalysis and electronics. In this work, we demonstrate the facile synthesis of core-shell nanotube array catalysts consisting of Pt thin layers as the shells and Ni nanotubes as the cores. The porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube arrays were fabricated by ZnO nanorod-array template-assisted electrodeposition, and they represent a new class of nanostructures with a high electrochemically active surface area of 50.08 m(2) (g Pt)(-1), which is close to the value of 59.44 m(2) (g Pt)(-1) for commercial Pt/C catalysts. The porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube arrays also show markedly enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation compared with the commercial Pt/C catalysts. The attractive performances exhibited by these prepared porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube arrays make them promising candidates as future high-performance catalysts for methanol electrooxidation. The facile method described herein is suitable for large-scale, low-cost production, and significantly lowers the Pt loading, and thus, the cost of the catalysts.     

Rational Design of Pt−Pd−Ni Trimetallic Nanocatalysts for Room-Temperature Benzaldehyde and Styrene Hydrogenation

Nanostructures of the multimetallic catalysts offer great scope for fine tuning of heterogeneous catalysis, but clear understanding of the surface chemistry and structures is important to enhance their selectivity and efficiency. Focussing on a typical Pt−Pd−Ni trimetallic system, we comparatively examined the Ni/C, Pt/Ni/C, Pd/Ni/C and Pt−Pd/Ni/C catalysts synthesized by impregnation and galvanic replacement reaction. To clarify surface chemical/structural effect, the Pt−Pd/Ni/C catalyst was thermally treated at X=200, 400 or 600 °C in a H₂ reducing atmosphere, respectively termed as Pt−Pd/Ni/C−X. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized complementarily by XRD, XPS, TEM, HRTEM, HS-LEIS and STEM-EDS elemental mapping and line-scanning. All the catalysts were comparatively evaluated for benzaldehyde and styrene hydrogenation. It is shown that the “PtPd alloy nanoclusters on Ni nanoparticles” (PtPd/Ni) and the synergistic effect of the trimetallic Pt−Pd−Ni, lead to much improved catalytic performance, compared with the mono- or bi- metallic counterparts. However, with the increase of the treatment temperature of the Pt−Pd/Ni/C, the catalytic performance was gradually degraded, which was likely due to that the favourable nanostructure of fine “PtPd/Ni” was gradually transformed to relatively large “PtPdNi alloy on Ni” (PtPdNi/Ni) particles, thus decreasing the number of noble metal (Pt and Pd) active sites on the surface of the catalyst. The optimum trimetallic structure is thus the as synthesised Pt−Pd/Ni/C. This work provides a novel strategy for the design and development of highly efficient and low-cost multimetallic catalysts, e. g. for hydrogenation reactions.     

预制铂纳米颗粒对质子交换膜燃料电池用铂纳米线阴极的结构影响

铂纳米线（Pt NWs）由于其独特的结构特点,比商业Pt/C具有更高的氧还原反应（ORR）比活性。在本工作中,我们将预先制备好的铂纳米颗粒（Pt NPs）引入到碳基体中,用于诱导生长Pt NWs,获得了均匀分布Pt NWs的阴极。通过改变Pt NP载量（0~0.015 mg·cm^-2）和Pt NP来源（不同Pt含量的Pt/C）研究了所制备阴极的结构和性能。用扫描电镜对阴极表面进行了表征,并用透射电镜和X射线衍射分析了Pt NW的形貌和晶体结构。在单电池中分别进行了极化曲线和循环伏安曲线测试。当Pt NP来源为40% Pt/C且其载量为0.005 mg·cm^-2时,制备的Pt NW阴极具有最佳的单电池性能和最大的电化学表面积（ECSA）。最后,提出了预制Pt NP影响Pt NWs分布的可能机制。     

Facile Synthesis Of Composition‐Controllable PtPdAuTe Nanowires As Superior Electrocatalysts For Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Multicomponent Pt‐based nanowires (NWs) have attracted widespread attention as eletrocatalysts toward direct alcohol fuel cells because of their unique one‐dimensional structure and high reaction dynamics. Quaternary PtPdAuTe NWs are designed via a facile template method, and NWs with a different composition are obtained by adjusting the feed ratio of metal precursors. The direct displacement reaction of metal precursors with Te NWs and the partial oxidation of Te lead to the formation of quaternary NWs. The rough surface and abundant reactive sites deriving from the rearrangement of metal atoms on the Te NWs surface endow the PtPdAuTe NWs with a superior electrocatalytic property and durability for methanol oxidation. The Pt₂₀Pd₂₀Au₁₀Te₅₀ NWs display the largest mass activity and best stability among all catalysts. The preparation of PtPdAuTe NWs could provide a viable strategy for the preparation of other multicomponent NWs.     

Improved hydrogen oxidation reaction under alkaline conditions by Au–Pt alloy nanoparticles

This work demonstrates the outstanding performance of alloyed Au_1 Pt_1 nanoparticles on hydrogen oxidation reaction(HOR) in alkaline solution. Due to the weakened hydrogen binding energy caused by uniform incorporation of Au, the alloyed Au_1 Pt_1/C nanoparticles exhibit superior HOR activity than commercial Pt Ru/C. On the contrary, the catalytic performance of the phase-segregated Au_2 Pt_1/C and Au_1 Pt_1/C bimetallic nanoparticles in HOR is significantly worse. Moreover, Au_1 Pt_1/C shows a remarkable durability with activity dropping only 4% after 3000 CV cycles, while performance attenuation of commercial Pt Ru/C is high up to 15% under the same condition. Our results indicate that the alloyed Au_1 Pt_1/C is a promising candidate to substitute commercial Pt Ru/C for hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline electrolyte.     

High performance Fe and N-codoped graphene quantum dot supported Pd3Co catalyst with synergistically improved oxygen reduction activity and great methanol tolerance

Designing high-performance and durable non-platinum catalysts as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is still a major barrier of fuel cell commercialization. In this work, simple hydrothermal and impregnation routes were applied to prepare non-platinum Pd-Co bimetallic nano-catalysts such as Fe-N doped graphene quantum dot (Fe-N-GQD) supported Pd₃Co (Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD 10 wt%), carbon supported Pd₃Co/C (10 wt%), graphene quantum dot supported Pd₃Co/C (10 wt%). The synthesized catalysts were physico-chemically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electronmicroscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical investigation was carried out in three electrode half-cell system to evaluate the catalyst activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the tolerance to methanol crossover and durability. In comparison to commercial Pt/C (ETEK, 20 wt%), the Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD with lower weight percentage catalyst (∼10 wt%) displayed comparable electrocatalytic activity toward ORR with even higher methanol-tolerance capability and durability. The fabricated Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD with (10 wt %) metal loading exhibited only 20% lower activity than Pt/C (ETEK, 20 wt%) toward ORR. Nevertheless the durability study of the catalyst in acidic media showed that the Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD preserve 40% of its activity while Pt/C (ETEK, 20 wt%) exhibited only 20% of its initial catalytic activity for ORR. Moreover the activity loss in the presence of methanol (0.1 M) was obtained for Pt/C (ETEK, 20 wt%) and Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD 35% and 14%, respectively. To investigate the role of catalyst support, catalytic activities of Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD, Pd₃Co/C, Pd₃Co/GQD and Pd/Fe-N-GQD were compared. The results demonstrated superior catalytic activity of Pd₃Co/Fe-N-GQD which could be related to the cocatalytic role of Fe-N-GQD due to the presence numerous of active sites exposed to the reactants.