Icosahedral Pd Nanocrystal Catalysts with Dispersed Bi Atoms via Photochemical Route for Enhanced Formic Acid Oxidation Reaction

Abstract The decoration of noble metal catalysts with specific main group or transition metal atoms offers an effective way to improve the catalytic performance through electronic structure regulation and active site optimization without losing the active surface area. Herein, icosahedral Pd nanocrystals catalysts with highly dispersed Bi atoms decoration have been realized by a simple photochemical reduction approach. The decoration of Bi atoms maintains the original Pd cyclic penta‐twinned structure. The deposition amount of Bi atoms, which greatly affect the catalytic performance, is fundamentally regulated by the irradiation time. Compared with pure Pd, the Pd−Bi icosahedral nanocrystals show significant improvement in electrocatalytic activity towards formic acid oxidation. Besides, the catalytic performance is correlated with the content of Bi. The optimal performance is occurred at the Bi content of 2.86%.