Pt3co Nanoalloys Decorated Graphene Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction, Methanol Oxidation, and Detoxification of Alkyl Halides

Abstract

Platinum has attracted a lot of attention from decades because of their high activity towards electrocatalytic applications. However, the high cost of Platinum due to less abundance is a limiting factor for materialistic applications in the energy conversion devices. So, lowering the cost of platinum-based electrocatalysts has been a thrust research area. Herein, we report multifunctional electrocatalyst by alloying of platinum with cobalt supported over 2D carbon framework, graphene oxide (GO). Polycrystalline Pt3Co alloys supported on GO have been synthesized via a hydrothermal route with a varying molar ratio of platinum and cobalt in presence of GO. Uniform distribution of Pt3Co nanoalloy over GO sheets with particle size ⁓10 nm was confirmed by the TEM. The elemental analysis and phase determination of alloys were studied by a XPS, and XRD. The ORR has been studied by using the RDE voltammetry in 0.1M HClO4 electrolyte. The as-synthesized 1:1 molar ratio of Pt and Co in GO composite electrocatalyst were found to exhibit better onset potential (1.04V) and current density (0.1 mA cm-2) as compared to commercial 20% Pt-C alongwith greater durability. The specific ORR activity observed was six times higher than 20% Pt/C in 0.1M HClO4. Besides, the catalyst shows similar trend towards methanol oxidation reaction, and detoxification of environmental pollutants like methyl iodide. Keywords: Graphene oxide (GO), Platinum-cobalt nanoalloys, Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), Methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), Halocarbons. Figure 1