The synthesis of transition metal nitride nanoparticles is challenging, in part because the unreactive nature of the most common nitrogen reagents necessitates high-temperature and/or high-pressure reaction conditions. Here we report the solution-phase synthesis and characterization of antiperovskite-type Cu 3 PdN nanocrystals that are multifaceted, uniform, and highly dispersible as colloidal solutions. Colloidal Cu 3 PdN nanocrystals were synthesized by reacting copper(II) nitrate and palladium(II) acetylacetonate in 1-octadecene with oleylamine at 240 °C. The Cu 3 PdN nanocrystals were evaluated as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under alkaline conditions, where both Cu 3 N and Pd nanocrystals are known to be active. The ORR activity of the Cu 3 PdN nanocrystals appears to be superior to that of Cu 3 N and comparable to that of Pd synthesized using similar methods, but with significantly improved mass activity than Pd control samples. The Cu 3 PdN nanocrystals also show greater stability than comparably synthesized Pd nanocrystals during repeated cycling under alkaline conditions.
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Vaughn et al. (2014) studied this question.