Potassium tetrachloropalladate k2pdcl4

PdPt nanoparticles were prepared by oil-bath heating in ethylene glycol (EG, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) using a one-step reduction method. Briefly, 3 mL of EG were preheated until the temperature was stabilized at 160 °C in a 3-neck round bottom flask. Over the stirred EG, 1.5 mL of 50 mM chloroplatinic acid hexahydrate (H₂PtCl₆·6H₂O, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) in EG, 1.5 mL of 50 mM potassium tetrachloropalladate (K₂PdCl₄, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) in EG and 6 mL of 100 mM polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) in EG were added slowly in aliquots of 200 µL (H₂PtCl₆·6H₂O and K₂PdCl₄) and 400 µL (PVP), respectively, each 2.5 min until the volume of the precursor and surfactant was completed, then the mixture was kept on stirring at 160 °C for 2 h. The cleaning process of nanoparticles was performed both with hexane (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and deionized water (COCIBA, Querétaro, Mexico) in ultrasound baths and this process was repeated for several times.

Palladium on carbon 10% (Pd/C), palladium acetate (Pd(OAc)₂), potassium tetrachloropalladate (K₂PdCl₄) and all reagents and solvents used in this work were purchased from Sigma Aldrich and used as received.