When ternary PdCuP alloys meet ultrathin nanowires: Synergic boosting of catalytic performance in ethanol electrooxidation

Noble metal-phosphorus (NMP) alloys have received special attention in the electrocatalysis. Despite a few efforts, the fabrication of anisotropic multicomponent NMPs is largely unsuccessful. Here we develop a facile yet general surfactant-directed aqueous synthesis for one-dimensional (1D) ternary PdCuP alloy nanowires (NWs), and demonstrate their structural and compositional synergy in promoting catalytic performance towards ethanol electrooxidation. Anisotropic PdCuP NWs with an ultrathin diameter of 2.5 nm and ultralong length of hundreds of nanometers are synthesized via in-the-columnar epitaxial growth of crystalline alloys along columnar assemblies of amphiphilic dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride (DODAC) by NaH2PO2 as the reducing agent and P source simultaneously. This protocol is also synthetically universal, enables the controllability in tuning the P contents and elemental compositions of multicomponent NMP NWs (for example, binary PdP, ternary PdAgP and PdPtP NWs). With synergistically structural and compositional merits, ultrathin PdCuP NWs display dramatically enhanced ethanol electrooxidation performance with a superior mass activity of 6.7 A mgPd−1, which is 9.4 fold higher than commercial Pd nanoparticle catalyst and also surpasses previously reported nanocatalysts. This approach will provide a new access for rational design of anisotropic non-metal-alloyed multicomponent noble metal-based nanocatalysts with desirable functions and synergies for a wide range of (electro)catalytic applications.