Palladium-Cobalt on Reduced Graphene Oxide as an Electro-catalyst for Ethylene Glycol Oxidation in Alkaline Medium: Synthesis and Electrochemical Performance

In this study, Pd-Co alloying nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were synthesized and characterized by various techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectra. The prepared Pd-Co/rGO nanoparticle was used as the electro-catalyst for the ethylene glycol (EG) oxidation reaction in the alkaline medium. The activity of Pd-Co/rGO was evaluated in the half-cell by cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. Results demonstrate that Pd-Co/rGO electro-catalyst has higher performance compared to simple alloyed-based Pd electro-catalysts for EG electro-oxidation in alkaline media. Pd-Co/rGO catalyst showed well-defined peaks for the EG oxidation reaction after 150 CV cycle. This result indicated that Pd-Co/rGO electro-catalyst is still active in EG oxidation reaction even after 150 CV cycles, suggesting high poisoning toleration of Pd-Co/rGO electro-catalyst in the EG oxidation reaction. The results of electrochemical experiments indicated that Pd-Co/rGO could be practically used as the high-efficiency anode electro-catalyst for the EG oxidation reaction in alkaline media.