Ultra-efficient electrooxidation of ethylene glycol enable by Pd-loaded Fe-doped Nb2O5 with abundant oxygen vacancies

Niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) has emerged as a highly promising electrocatalyst for ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR) due to its eco-friendly nature and its ability to maintain structural stability in alkaline environments. However, its inherent electronic structure has posed a significant barrier to further enhancing of EGOR activity. In this study, we successfully synthesized Pd-based electrocatalysts by incorporating Fe-doped Nb2O5 with abundant oxygen vacancies (Pd/FNO-2.5), which effectively promoted ethylene glycol oxidation. The results showed that the introduction of Fe doping not only altered the electronic structure of Nb2O5, leading to the generation of oxygen vacancies, but also decreased the d-band center of Pd, thereby reducing thermodynamic energy barrier of the rate-determining step by approximately 0.58 eV. Impressively, the Pd/FNO-2.5 catalyst demonstrated remarkable electrocatalytic performance exhibiting a relatively low initial potential (−0.11 V) and high mass activity (0.380 A mg−1Pd). Furthermore, even after undergoing 100 consecutive recycling experiments, the Pd/FNO-2.5 catalyst still retained 81.10 % of its current density. This study demonstrates that doping-induced oxygen vacancy engineering is a promising approach for developing efficient EGOR electrocatalysts for direct ethylene glycol fuel cells, which is associating with the efficient and sustainable development of fuel cell and the carbon neutrality efforts.