Electrocatalytic Activity Of Noble Metal Nanoparticles On Graphene

Graphene is a new carbon material with a two-dimensional planar structure, which was widely investigated in recent years. So far, it is the only two-dimensional free atom crystal, which is not only the basic structural units to construct the zero-dimensional fullerenes, one-dimensional carbon nanotubes, three-dimensional body graphene and other sp2hybrid carbons, but also has various of strange electronic and mechanical properties. Due to these features, it has attracted much attention from the areas of chemistry, materials and others.The paper briefly described the structural characteristics, preparation methods and applications of graphene and graphite oxide. The preparation methods of graphite oxide and graphene supported metal were detailed introduced. Owing to their unique electrical conductivity and specific surface area, the application of graphene to the carrier of fuel-cell catalyst has broad application prospects. Consequently, the preparation of Pt/Graphene catalysts and investigation of their redox properties were carried out. Different load ratio of Pt/Graphene catalysts were synthesized and their morphology, composition and electrochemical performances were detailed studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), scanning electronic microscope (SEM), energy scattering of X-ray spectrometer (EDS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) technology. The main contents of this paper are as follows:(1) When the graphite oxide was prepared using modified Hummers method, we found the use of ultrasonic method to synthesis graphene has good hydrophilicity and a homogeneous and stable colloidal solution was obtained. It made a preparation for the further synthesis of graphene.(2) High dispersion and load of Pt nanoparticles on the graphene was achieved in glycol using graphite oxide as precursor. And different load ratio of single Pt/graphene, Pd/graphene catalysts and bimetallic Pt-Ru/graphene catalysts were prepared by using this methodology. Their electrocatalytic performance for methanol is studied by electrochemical techniques.