One-pot fabrication of reduced graphene oxide supported dendritic core-shell gold@gold-palladium nanoflowers for glycerol oxidation.

Herein, a one-pot wet-chemical route was used to prepare well-defined dendritic core-shell gold@gold-palladium nanoflowers supported on reduced graphene oxide (Au@AuPd NFs/rGO), using 2, 4-dihydroxypyridine (2, 4-DHP) asa new stabilizer and structure-director. Their morphology, size, composition, and crystal structure were characterized by a set of characterization techniques. Control experiments demonstrated that the molar ratio of the metal precursors and the dosage of 2,4-DHP play essential roles in this synthesis. The growth mechanism of dendritic core-shell Au@AuPd nanoflowers was investigated in details. The synthesized branched architectures exhibited enlarged electrochemically active surface area (ECSA), improved catalytic properties, enhanced stability and durability toward glycerol oxidation in alkaline media when compared to the home-made AuPd nanocrystals (NCs)/rGO and AuPd NCs/rGO, along with commercially available Pd/C catalyst.