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Topological Type‐II Dirac Semimetal and Superconductor PdTe 2 for Ethanol Electrooxidation
Author(s) -
He Yuan,
Yan Dong,
Wang Shu,
Shi Lei,
Zhang Xing,
Yan Kai,
Luo Huixia
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201900663
Subject(s) - tafel equation , electrocatalyst , nanosheet , exfoliation joint , materials science , semimetal , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , electrochemistry , graphene , band gap , electrode , optoelectronics , engineering
Ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is an essential half reaction in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs). Pd‐based materials are ideal candidates for electrocatalytic EOR. However, most reported materials generally show low ethanol oxidation completeness ( J f / J b ). Herein, an EOR electrocatalyst with high J f / J b is documented: topological type‐II Dirac semimetal and superconductor PdTe 2 . It is demonstrated that bulk PdTe 2 can be successfully exfoliated into nanosheets with ≈4 nm thickness, by liquid‐phase exfoliation, which are loaded onto carbon fiber paper as EOR electrocatalysts. The resulting PdTe 2 nanosheet electrocatalyst shows fivefold mass activity compared to that of commercial Pd black. In addition, the ratio of forward current ( J f ) to backward current ( J b ) of PdTe 2 nanosheets is 5.28, which is much higher than previously reported ( J f / J b ≈ 2), indicating excellent oxidation completeness of ethanol. Moreover, PdTe 2 nanosheets exhibit a rather low Tafel slope of 41.2 mV dec −1 as well as good stability without reduction after 2 h of chronoamperometry measurement. These outstanding results indicate that the PdTe 2 nanosheet is a promising electrocatalyst material for high‐performance energy conversion.