We explored the use of salicylic acid (SA) and its derivatives 5-formylsalicylic acid (FSA) and 5-sulfosalicylic acid (SSA) as organic additives to cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in synthesizing gold nanorods (AuNRs) followed by palladium (Pd) capping at the ends of AuNRs. In the AuNR synthesis step, SA family additives in the presence of low concentration of CTAB (50 mM) serve as both the prereducing agent and the cofactor in nanorod growth. At an optimum additive/CTAB ratio (0.1–0.2), AuNRs grow to the longest length. At low additive concentrations, the gold seeds do not grow. At high concentrations, the longitudinal growth of AuNRs is disrupted because the excessive additive disturbs the ligand structure, leading to more isotropic growth. In the Pd overgrowth step, Pd starts to grow from both ends for AuNRs synthesized at optimum additive/CTAB ratios. Feeding more Pd grows the particles into a core–shell structure, possibly because there lacks a tight ligand layer on Pd that favors the longitudinal growth. For AuNRs synthesized at high additive/CTAB ratios, Pd growth loses preference, showing randomized Pd nucleation on AuNR surface. Finally, the palladium-end-capped–AuNRs’ catalytic activity was tested using the resazurin reduction reaction. This study shows a new way to produce controllable deposition of Pd on AuNRs.

PdZn/C electrocatalysts were prepared by sodium borohydride utilized as reducing agent for activation methane in an acidic medium at room temperature and in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) at 80°C. The materials prepared were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The diffractograms of the PdZn/C electrocatalysts showed only peaks associated with Pd face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. Cyclic voltammograms (CV) of all electrocatalysts after adsorption of methane shown an increment in current during the anodic scan, this effect was more pronounced for Pd(70)Zn(30)/C. In situ ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared) experiments was not observed the formation of intermediates adsorbed for PdZn/C electrocatalysts, this behavior indicated that the methane oxidation occurs by parallel mechanisms. Polarization curves at 80°C in PEMFC show that Pd(90)Zn(10)/C has superior performance over the other electrocatalysts in methane oxidation.