Efficient Methanol Electro-oxidation on Ni, S Dual Doped Reduced Graphene Layer Catalyst

Abstract

Energy crisis is the most popular issue in the world, which must be overcome with the development of alternative energy sources. Among them, methanol is a promising fuel when used in direct methanol fuel cells. However, the mentioned cell needs highly electroactive and stable anode materials toward MeOH. Ni has gained attention as it is an alternative to noble atoms. In this study, Ni was deposited on reduced graphene layer which functionalized with S atoms via the hydrothermal method. The fabricated sample was characterized by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), mapping, X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method (BET). Two samples as called Ni/GCE and Ni@s-rGO/GCE were examined for methanol oxidation reaction in alkaline media. For methanol oxidation, due to the higher surface area, and small particle size of Ni, the mass activity of Ni@s-rGO/GCE is two times higher than Ni/GCE