An advanced, efficient and highly durable of reduced graphene oxide/platinum nanoparticles nanocomposite electrocatalyst fabricated via one-step method of the hydrothermal-assisted formic acid process for the electrocatalytic oxidation reaction of methanol

Abstract

The high-quality of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) supported platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) was synthesized by a simple, efficient, rapid, clean, surfactant-free, and single-step of hydrothermal-assisted formic acid process. The as-synthesized rGO/PtNPs catalyst was extensively characterized in which demonstrated that the PtNPs have successfully anchored on the surface of rGO with the small average particle size of 4 nm. The evaluation of electrocatalytic activity and durability performance of the as-synthesized rGO/PtNPs nanocomposite catalyst towards methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) as well as the determination of electrochemical surface area (ECSA) were carried out by cyclic voltammogram and chronoamperometry. Besides, the as-prepared rGO/PtNPs nanocomposite catalyst has further proved the remarkably higher electrocatalytic property which exhibited superior maximum forward peak current density (64.04 mA/cm2) toward MOR in acidic media compared with Vulcan XC72/PtNPs (47.54 mA/cm2) and rGO/PdNPs (6.21 mA/cm2) catalysts owing to homogenous distribution and synergic effects of PtNPs with rGO as well as improved electron transfer by rGO. Moreover, the rGO/PtNPs nanocomposite catalyst still achieve the high current density even after 2900 s of continuous catalyst at 0.6 V. This study provides new insights into the production of superior electrocatalytic activity and durability of anode catalyst through a facile, low cost and clean synthesis approach for the enhancement of direct methanol fuel cell performance.