Green and facile synthesis of Pt/{PW12-GN} composite film and its electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation

Abstract

In this paper, H3PW12O40 (PW12)-functionalized graphene nanosheets (PW12-GNs) were prepared using a green and facile method via a UV-irradiated photoreduction process, in which PW12 was directly deposited on the GNs as a reductant and also as an anionic stabilizer. The as-prepared water-dispersive PW12-GN composite is used as matrices for electrodeposition of the interesting orchidlike Pt nanoclusters in situ. The PW12-GN composite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). It was shown that the electrochemical properties of PW12 were maintained in PW12-GNs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that Pt had been deposited on the PW12-GN composite surface. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed that the interesting orchidlike Pt nanoparticles were uniformly immobilized on the surface of the {PW12-GN} composite film. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometric curves were used to study the electrocatalytic activity of Pt/{PW12-GN} regarding methanol oxidation in 0.5 M H2SO4. It is worthy of note that the Pt/{PW12-GN} composite film-modified electrode presents a high catalytic activity (j = 353 mA mg−1) and better tolerance of CO towards methanol electrooxidation.