SOUZA, FELIPE de M.SOUZA, RODRIGO F.B. deBATISTA, BRUNO L.SANTOS, MAURO C. dosFONSECA, FABIO C.OLIVEIRA NETO, ALMIRNANDENHA, JULIO2020-10-162020-10-162020SOUZA, FELIPE de M.; SOUZA, RODRIGO F.B. de; BATISTA, BRUNO L.; SANTOS, MAURO C. dos; FONSECA, FABIO C.; OLIVEIRA NETO, ALMIR; NANDENHA, JULIO. Methane activation at low temperature in an acidic electrolyte using PdAu/C, PdCu/C, and PdTiO2/C electrocatalysts for PEMFC. <b>Research on Chemical Intermediates</b>, v. 46, n. 5, p. 2481-2496, 2020. DOI: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11164-020-04102-1">10.1007/s11164-020-04102-1</a>. Disponível em: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/31446.0922-6168http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/31446Pd/C, PdAu/C, PdCu/C, and PdTiO2/ C electrocatalysts were prepared by a sodium borohydride reduction process for methane activation at low temperatures in a PEMFC reactor. These electrocatalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, XPS, ICP-MS, ATR-FTIR, and cyclic voltammetry. The diffractograms of Pd/C, PdAu(50:50)/C, PdCu(50:50)/C, and PdTiO2( 50:50)/C electrocatalysts showed peaks associated with Pd face-centered cubic structure. PdAu(50:50)/C showed a small shift in the peak center when it was compared to Pd/C, while PdCu(50:50)/C showed a shift to higher angles when it was also compared to Pd/C. This effect can be due to the formation of an alloy between Pd and Au, and Pd and Cu. By TEM experiments, a mean nanoparticle size was observed between 6.9 and 8.9 nm for all electrocatalysts. Cyclic voltammograms of Pd/C, PdAu/C, PdCu/C and PdTiO2/ C electrocatalysts showed an increase in current density values after the adsorption of methane The ATR-FTIR experiments showed for all electrocatalysts the formation of methanol and formic acidic. Polarization curves at 80 °C acquired in a PEMFC reactor showed that PdAu(50:50)/C and PdTiO2( 50:50)/C had superior performance when compared to Pd/C, indicating the beneficial effect of adding the co-catalyst; this behavior has been attributed to the bifunctional mechanism or electronic effect.2481-2496openAccessmethaneelectrocatalystsborohydridessodium compoundsbinary alloy systemspalladium alloysgold alloyscopper alloystitanium oxidesproton exchange membrane fuel cellstemperature range 0065-0273 kfourier transformationinfrared spectraattenuationreflectionArtigo de periódico54610.1007/s11164-020-04102-10000-0001-8745-34210000-0003-0708-2021https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9287-6071https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0708-202148.0370.00