High-Efficiency Palladium Nanoparticles Supported on Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin Modified Fullerene [60] for Ethanol Oxidation

Highlights: • C₆₀ support provides new ways to develop catalyst materials for its distorted structure. • Pd nanoparticles with uniform size and high dispersion have been successfully assembled on HP-β-CD-C₆₀ in aqueous solution. • Pd/HP-β-CD-C₆₀ shows very promising catalytic activity for ethanol oxidation. - Abstract: In this paper, Palladium nanoparticles with uniform size and high dispersion have been successfully assembled on hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) modified C₆₀ (abbreviated as HP-β-CD-C₆₀) via a sodium borohydride reduction process. According to the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, the average particle size of the as-prepared Pd nanoparticles dispersed on HP-β-CD modified C₆₀ is 2.7 nm. Electrochemical studies reveal that the Pd/HP-β-CD-C₆₀ modified electrode shows a significantly high electrocatalytic activity, much more negative onset potentials and better stability than electrodes modified by other electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation, which indicates that it is a better potential candidate for application in a direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC)