Efficient and stable HER electrocatalyst using Pt-nanoparticles@poly(3,4–ethylene dioxythiophene) modified sulfonated graphene nanocomposite

Abstract

The green production of hydrogen by electrochemical water splitting has been recently paid attention. It is more focused to research about the preparation of efficient electrocatalysts, which catalyze hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic media at low overpotential. Platinum is known as an ideal option, but its rarity and high-cost limit its application in practical industrial plants. Hence, minimizing the level of it can be a solution. It can be achieved by the decoration of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) on the different composites such as poly(3,4–ethylene dioxythiophene, PEDOT) and sulfonated graphene nanosheets (SG) in this work. Accordingly, the successful preparation and HER electrocatalytic manner of this nanocomposite were main objectives in the present report. The related characterization and performance were monitored using various analytical and electrochemical techniques. The low charge transfer resistance (around 50 Ω), low overpotential (−0.040 V vs. RHE), and stable manner (until 500 cycles) resulted in this HER electrocatalyst. It was controlled by Tafel reaction with electrochemical adsorption-desorption because of kinetic factors including Tafel slope (28.4 mV dec−1), charge-transfer coefficient of 2.0, and exchange current of 7.27 mA cm−2.