Fabrication of amorphous PdNiCuP nanoparticles as efficient bifunctional and highly durable electrocatalyst for methanol and formic acid oxidation

• We utilize a facile laser liquid ablation method to synthesize amorphous PdNiCuP. • The amorphous PdNiCuP is highly efficient and stable for both MOR and FAOR. • The amorphous PdNiCuP displays superior anti-poisoning ability. Highly active and durable electrocatalytic materials towards small molecules electro-oxidation reaction are critical to the large-scale commercial applications of direct liquid fuel cells. Unfortunately, current nanocrystalline electrocatalysts normally suffer from low catalytic efficiency, severe CO poisoning and rapid activity decay. Herein, we report a novel amorphous PdNiCuP catalyst synthesized with laser liquid ablation as a potential settlement to this issue. The as-obtained amorphous PdNiCuP catalyst exhibits enhanced electrocatalytic performance with the mass activity of 1.61 A mg −1 and 737.8 mA mg −1 towards methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR), respectively. Moreover, amorphous PdNiCuP displays excellent operation stability and CO-poisoning resistance in both alkaline and acidic medium. P was proposed to play the decisive role for forming the amorphous structure and maintaining the catalytic stability in MOR and FAOR processes. This work provided insights for the ration design of active and durable amorphous electrocatalysts applied in direct liquid fuel cells.