Pd 4d Orbital Overlapping Modulation on Au@Pd Nanowires for Efficient HO Production.

Isolating Pd atoms has been shown to be crucial for the design of a Pd-based electrocatalyst toward 2e oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, there are limited studies focusing on the systematic compositional design that leads to an optimal balance between activity and selectivity. Herein, we design a series of Au@Pd core@shell structures to investigate the influence of the Pd 4d orbital overlapping degree on 2e ORR performance.

Effect of Adventitious Carbon on Pit Formation of Monolayer MoS.

Forming pits on molybdenum disulfide (MoS ) monolayers is desirable for (opto)electrical, catalytic, and biological applications. Thermal oxidation is a potentially scalable method to generate pits on monolayer MoS , and pits are assumed to preferentially form around undercoordinated sites, such as sulfur vacancies. However, studies on thermal oxidation of MoS monolayers have not considered the effect of adventitious carbon (C) that is ubiquitous and interacts with oxygen at elevated temperatures.

Promoting HO production via 2-electron oxygen reduction by coordinating partially oxidized Pd with defect carbon.

Electrochemical synthesis of HO through a selective two-electron (2e) oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an attractive alternative to the industrial anthraquinone oxidation method, as it allows decentralized HO production. Herein, we report that the synergistic interaction between partially oxidized palladium (Pd) and oxygen-functionalized carbon can promote 2e ORR in acidic electrolytes. An electrocatalyst synthesized by solution deposition of amorphous Pd clusters (Pd and Pd) onto mildly oxidized carbon nanotubes (Pd-OCNT) shows nearly 100% selectivity toward HO and a positive shift of ORR onset potential by ~320 mV compared with the OCNT substrate.