SnO@PdAg Core-Shell Nanoarchitecture Promotes Active and Stable Alcohol Electrooxidations.

Developing efficient Pd-based electrocatalysts is of vital importance for the application of direct alcohol fuel cells. Designing the core-shell architecture of Pd-based nanomaterials rationally has emerged as an effective strategy to promote the sluggish kinetics of anodic reactions. Herein, the PdAg alloy is reduced on a non-noble metal oxide surface for the formation of a core-shell nanostructure. The optimized SnO@PdAg nanospheres deliver the optimal catalytic performance compared with other counterparts and commercial Pd/C. The structural investigation reveals that the introduction of Ag and formation of a PdAg/SnO heterointerface effectively regulate the electronic structure of Pd, making SnO@PdAg a highly active catalyst for methanol and ethylene glycol oxidation reactions. Impressively, the strong interaction between the PdAg shell and SnO core stabilizes the metal-oxide heterointerface, contributing to the improved stability of SnO@PdAg in electrocatalytic reactions. This study proposes the use of non-noble metal oxides as the core to suppress the dissolution of the catalysts and highlights the rational design of core@shell nanoarchitectures.