One plausible approach to endow aerogels with specific properties while preserving their other attributes is to fine-tune the building blocks. However, the preparation of metallic aerogels with designated properties, for example catalytically beneficial morphologies and transition-metal doping, still remains a challenge. Here, we report on the first aerogel electrocatalyst composed entirely of alloyed PdNi hollow nanospheres (HNSs) with controllable chemical composition and shell thickness. The combination of transition-metal doping, hollow building blocks, and the three-dimensional network structure make the PdNi HNS aerogels promising electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation. The mass activity of the Pd₈₃Ni₁₇ HNS aerogel is 5.6-fold higher than that of the commercial Pd/C catalyst. This work expands the exploitation of the electrocatalysis properties of aerogels through the morphology and composition control of its building blocks.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201505307/abstract

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA5NzIyNjEzNQ==&mid=209780416&idx=3&sn=4b2aad76590a32f7b503a9fe80f827a6&scene=0#rd