Decoration of graphene oxide with Platinum Tin nanoparticles for ethanol oxidation

Platinum-Cobalt Nanowires for Efficient Alcohol Oxidation Electrocatalysis

The compositions and surface facets of platinum (Pt)-based electrocatalysts are of great significance for the development of direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs). We reported an approach for preparing ultrathin Pt_nCo_100-n nanowire (NW) catalysts with high activity. The Pt_nCo_100-n NW alloy catalysts synthesized by single-phase surfactant-free synthesis have adjustable compositions and (111) plane and strain lattices. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicate that the alloy composition can adjust the lattice shrinkage or expansion of Pt_nCo_100-n NWs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results show that the electron structure of Pt is changed by the alloying effect caused by electron modulation in the d band, and the chemical adsorption strength of Pt is decreased, thus the catalytic activity of Pt is increased. The experimental results show that the activity of Pt_nCo_100-n for the oxidation of methanol and ethanol is related to the exposed crystal surface, strain lattice and composition of catalysts. The Pt_nCo_100-n NWs exhibit stronger electrocatalytic performance for both methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). The dominant (111) plane Pt₅₃Co₄₇ exhibits the highest electrocatalytic activity in MOR, which is supported by the results of XPS. This discovery provides a new pathway to design high activity, stability nanocatalysts to enhance direct alcohol fuel cells.

Controllable Synthesis of Platinum-Tin Intermetallic Nanoparticles with High Electrocatalytic Performance for Ethanol Oxidation

This article proposes a general approach for the preparation of intermetallic nanoparticles of Pt3Sn, PtSn, PtSn2, and PtSn4, triggered by hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) in conjunction with SnCl2. The ethanol oxidation reaction...

Magnetically recyclable reduced graphene oxide nanosheets/magnetite-palladium aerogel with superior catalytic activity and reusability

A two-step method was employed to synthesize reduced graphene oxide nanosheets/magnetite-palladium (rGSs/Fe₃O₄-Pd) aerogel, with excellent catalytic activity and recyclability. Firstly, graphene oxide nanosheet (GS) hydrogels were formed by the self-assembly of GSs during the hydrothermal process. Meanwhile, hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) and Pd nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized and anchored onto the surface of the hydrogel. During heat-treatment, GSs were reduced to rGSs, while nonmagnetic α-Fe₂O₃NPs were converted to magnetic Fe₃O₄ NPs. The as-obtained rGSs/Fe₃O₄-Pd aerogel displayed a three-dimensional interconnected hierarchical porous architecture, which was rich in mesopores and macropores. Such a structure was suitable for catalysis, since it not only improved the mass diffusion and transport, but also readily exposed the catalytic Pd NPs to the reactants. The typical reduction of 4-nitrophenol was chosen as a model reaction to evaluate the catalytic performance of the aerogel. As anticipated, both the reaction rate constant and turn over frequency of the aerogel were much higher than those of the commercial Pd/C catalyst. Moreover, due to incorporation of Fe₃O₄ NPs, the rGSs/Fe₃O₄-Pd aerogel could be magnetically separated from the reaction solution and reused, without obvious loss of catalytic activity.

Platinum–copper doped poly(sulfonyldiphenol/cyclophosphazene/benzidine)–graphene oxide composite as an electrode material for single stack direct alcohol alkaline fuel cells

Schematic representation of the preparation of a metal nanoparticle (Pt and Pt–Cu)-decorated poly(SDP/CP/BZ)–GO composite.

Hierarchically porous fluorine-doped graphene nanosheets as efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in gas diffusion electrode

Here a simple yet cost-effective strategy is developed to fabricate fluorine-doped graphene nanosheets, we successfully, prepared fluorine doped graphene via thermal treatment of graphene oxide and NaF (sodium fluoride) in H₂SO₄ solution phase. Importantly, the electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is carefully evaluated for fluorographene (FG). None-metal graphene electro catalysts for the ORR are attractive for their high activity and economic advantages. A significant research effort is also directed to the so-called "metal-free" ORR on heteroatom-doped graphene surfaces. The electrochemical activity of F-RGO in the ORR is investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) using rotating disk electrode (RDE) measurements on glassy carbon and on gas diffusion electrode (GDE) based carbon paper in oxygen saturated alkaline aqueous solutions.

Covalent bonding modulated graphene-metal interfacial thermal transport

We report the covalent bonding enabled modulation of the interfacial thermal conductance between graphene and metals Cu, Al, and Pt by controlling the oxidation of graphene. By combining comprehensive X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis and time-domain thermoreflectance measurements, we quantify the effect of graphene oxidation on interfacial thermal conductance. It was found that thermal conductance increases with the degree of graphene oxidation until a peak value is obtained at an oxygen/carbon atom percentage of ∼7.7%. The maximum enhancement in thermal conductance was measured to be 55%, 38%, and 49% for interfaces between oxidized graphene and Cu, Al, and Pt, respectively. In situ XPS measurements show that oxygen covalently binds to Cu and graphene simultaneously, forming a highly efficient bridge to enhance the thermal transport. Our molecular dynamics simulations verify that strong interfacial covalent bonds are the key to the thermal conductance enhancement. This work provides valuable insights into the mechanism of functionalization-induced thermal conductance enhancement and design guidelines for graphene-based devices.