Electrochemical properties and electrocatalytic activity of conducting polymer/copper nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide composite

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was used to support Cu nanoparticles. As electro-active electrodes for supercapacitors composites of reduced graphene oxide/Cu nanoparticles (rGO/CuNPs) and polytyramine (PT) with good uniformity are prepared by electropolymerization. Composite of rGO/CuNPs–PT was synthesized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) methods and electrochemical properties of film were investigated by using electrochemical techniques. The results show that, the rGO/CuNPs–PT/G has better capacitance performance. This is mainly because of the really large surface area and the better electronic and ionic conductivity of rGO/CuNPs–PT/G, which lead to greater double-layer capacitance and faradic pseudo capacitance. Modified graphite electrodes (rGO/CuNPs–PT/G) were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of methanol in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed. In comparison with a Cu–PT/G (Graphite), rGO/CuNPs–PT/G modified electrode shows a significantly higher response for methanol oxidation. A mechanism based on the electro-chemical generation of Cu(III) active sites and their subsequent consumptions by methanol have been discussed.