LAUSR

The hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in alkaline medium has been investigated together with the recent development of alkaline membrane fuel cells, also called anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs).[1,2] Under alkaline conditions, the HOR activity of the pure platinum-group metal (PGM) catalysts (Pt, Ir and Pd) is significantly reduced by at least two orders of magnitude compared to the same PGMs under acidic conditions.[3–6] The development of alkaline exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) is limited by the sluggish reaction at the anode. Even precious group metals (PGMs) are not effective hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) electrocatalysts in alkaline medium. In this manuscript, the original synthesis of effective HOR electrocatalysts for AEMFC is reported. Here, the limitations of using metalorganic precursors are described and their replacement with organometallic precursors is proposed. It is shown that completely different nanostructures can be synthesized by the organometallic route, resulting in the formation of NiPd nano-alloy or Ni@Pd core–shell nanoparticles, instead of Pd@ Ni. The presence of both Pd and Ni on the catalyst surface has a drastic effect on its HOR activity, due to a bifunctional electrocatalytic mechanism with hydrogen binding on Pd and OH binding on Ni. The highest activity is measured for NiPd nano-alloy, whose specific activity reaches − 104 mA mgPd 1