Facile fabrication of novel PdRu nanoflowers as highly active catalysts for the electrooxidation of methanol.

The shape-controlled synthesis of binary Pd-based nanocrystals bounded with abundant surface active areas and tunable atomic ratio have been of great significance in the fabrication and modification of outstandingly excellent electrocatalysts. To embody the superiority of high surface area in enhancing electrocatalysis well, the superior electrocatalyst should be supposed to combine both the morphology advantages and the synergistic effect between metals. We herein report our significant advances in engineering the unique binary PdRu nanoflowers with highly exposed active sites and tunable compositions. Owing to the bifuntional effect and electronic effect between Pd and Ru, as well as the unique flower-like structure, such special PdRu nanoflower exhibit outstandingly excellent catalytic activity towards methanol electrooxidation with the mass activity of 1280mAmg, 7.01 and 4.92-fold enhancement than that of pure Pd and commercial Pd/C. Our efforts in this work may open a new way for enhancing the catalytic activity by constructing the catalysts with desirable shape and maximizing the active surface areas.