Bimetallic Pt–Au nanocatalysts electrochemically deposited on graphene and their electrocatalytic characteristics towards oxygen reduction and methanol oxidation

• DOI: 10.1039/c0cp01998d
• Publication Date: 2011-01-13T09:48:10Z
• Authors: Yaojuan Hu; Hua Zhang; Ping Wu; Hui Zhang; Bo Zhou; Chenxin Cai
• Keywords: Nanomaterial-based catalyst; Bimetallic strip

The burgeoning demand for clean and energy-efficient fuel cell system requires electrocatalysts to deliver greater activity selectivity. Bimetallic catalysts have proven superior single metal in this respect. This work reports the preparation, characterization, electrocatalytic characteristics of a new bimetallic nanocatalyst. catalyst, Pt–Au–graphene, was synthesized by electrodeposition Pt–Au nanostructures on surface graphene sheets, characterized scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), voltammetry. morphology composition nanocatalyst can be easily controlled adjusting molar ratio between Pt Au precursors. nanocatalysts oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) methanol oxidation (MOR) were systematically investigated cyclic Pt–Au–graphene exhibits higher catalytic than Au–graphene Pt–graphene both ORR MOR, highest is obtained at Pt/Au 2 : 1. Moreover, significantly enhance long-term stability toward MOR effectively removing accumulated carbonaceous species formed from catalyst. Therefore, has demonstrated that performance could realized electrocatalyst while utilization also greatly diminished. method may open general approach morphology-controlled synthesis Pt–M nanocatalysts, which expected promising applications cells.