Remarkable enhancement of electrocatalytic activity by tuning the interface of Pd-Au bimetallic nanoparticle tubes.

The interface, which formed in a bimetallic system, is a critical issue to investigate the fundamental mechanism of enhanced catalytic activity. Here, we designed unsupported Pd-Au bimetallic nanoparticle tubes with a tunable interface, which was qualitatively controlled by the proportion of Pd and Au nanoparticles (NPs), to demonstrate the remarkably enhanced effect of Pd and Au NPs in electro-oxidation of ethanol. The results demonstrated that the electrocatalytic activity is highly relative to the interface and has no direct relation with individual metal component in the Pd-Au system. This effect helps us in achieving a fundamental understanding of the relationship between their activity and the interface structure and chemical properties and, consequently, is helpful in designing new catalysts with high performances.