Photo-electrocatalytic methanol oxidation on Pd decorated BiOI nanoparticles in alkali

Palladium–bismuth oxoiodide nanocomposites of various molar ratios of Pd and BiOI have been synthesized by the facile solvothermal method following the chemical reduction technique. The as-synthesized particles have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, spectrophotometric and microscopic studies. All the electrodes made of different Pd–BiOI nanocomposites show improved catalytic performance with synergistic effects for the oxidation of methanol in comparison with the pure components, Pd and BiOI. The modified graphite electrode containing a thin layer of Pd–BiOI composite having 10 mol% of Pd, designated as PB10, has shown the best electrocatalytic performance in comparison with other electrodes for methanol oxidation. The current density using PB10 is increased by 5.4 times with respect to Pd which is further improved by 6.4 times in the presence of visible light for methanol oxidation reaction. The retention of peak current at the 200th cycle of voltammetric operation is found to be 99.5% indicating significant stability of the electrodes. The study essentially suggests PB10 can be used as an efficient anode catalyst for oxidation of methanol in alkali.