Tunable Periodically Ordered Mesoporosity in Palladium Membranes Enables Exceptional Enhancement of Intrinsic Electrocatalytic Activity for Formic Acid Oxidation.

Developing superior electrocatalysts for formic acid oxidation (FAO) is the most crucial step in commercializing direct formic acid fuel cells. Herein, we electrodeposited palladium membranes with periodically ordered mesoporosity obtained by asymmetrically replicating the bicontinuous cubic phase structure of a lyotropic liquid-crystal template. The Pd membrane with the largest periodicity and highest degree of order delivered up to 90.5 m2  g-1 of electrochemical active surface area and 3.34 A mg-1 electrocatalysis capability towards FAO, 3.8 and 7.8 times the values of the commercial Pd/C catalyst, respectively. By controlling the temperature and potential of the electrodeposition procedure, the periodicity area and order degree of the mesoporosity are highly tunable. These Pd membranes gave prototype formic acid fueled cells with 4.3 and 2.4 times the maximum current and power density of the commercial Pd/C catalyst.