Nanostructured palladium (Pd) is a universal catalyst that is widely used in applications ranging from catalytic converters of combustion engine cars to hydrogenation catalysts in industrial processes. Standard protocols for synthesizing such nanoparticles (NPs) typically use bottom-up approaches. They utilize special and often expensive physical techniques or wet-chemical methods requiring organic surfactants. These surfactants should often be removed before catalytic applications. In this article, the synthesis of Pd NPs immobilized on carbon support by electrochemical erosion without using any surfactants or toxic materials is reported. The Pd NPs synthesis essentially relies on a Pd bulk pretreatment, which causes material embrittlement and allows the erosion process to evolve more efficiently, producing homogeneously distributed NPs on the support. Moreover, the synthesized catalyst is tested for hydrogen evolution reaction. The activity evaluations identify optimal synthesis parameters related to the erosion procedure. The electrocatalytic properties of the Pd NPs produced with sizes down to 6.4 ± 2.9 nm are compared with a commercially available Pd/C catalyst. The synthesized catalyst outperforms the commercial catalyst within all properties, like specific surface area, geometric activity, mass activity, specific activity, and durability.

Catalysis Research Center TUM Ernst Otto Fischer Str 1 Garching 85748 Germany

Center of Materials and Nanotechnologies University of Pardubice Nam Cs Legii 565 Pardubice 53002 Czech Republic

Central European Institute of Technology Brno University of Technology Purkynova 123 Brno 61200 Czech Republic

Heinz Maier Leibnitz Zentrum TUM Lichtenbergstr 1 Garching 85748 Germany

Physics of Energy Conversion and Storage Technical University of Munich James Franck Str 1 Garching 85748 Germany

Université Grenoble Alpes Université Savoie Mont Blanc CNRS Grenoble INP LEPMI Grenoble 38000 France

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