Tannic acid decorated AuPd lavender-like nanochains for enhanced oxygen reduction electrocatalysis

Abstract

Benefiting from the interaction of inorganic and organic building blocks, the design of metal–organic nanohybrids is of great significance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, a universal strategy is presented to controllably synthesize tannic acid (TA) functionalized AuPd lavender-like nanochains (AuPd@TA LCs) by a chemical reduction method at low temperature. Due to the unique structural characteristics and polyphenolic modification, the AuPd@TA LCs show superior ORR performance in an alkaline electrolyte. Moreover, the surface decorated TA polymers can act as a molecular screen window to prevent methanol molecules from accessing the active site of the catalyst, thus resulting in high methanol tolerance and catalytic stability. The presented molecular screen window strategy is highly valuable for designing ORR electrocatalysts with high methanol tolerance.