INFLUENCE OF SURFACE MODIFICATION ON THE MICROSTRUCTURE AND ELECTROACTIVITY OF REDUCED GRAPHENE OXIDE SUPPORTED PT CATALYST ELECTRODES

摘要

Graphene is widely explored to replace conventional catalysts or as supporting materials for improving the performance of catalysts. Especially, graphene oxide (GO) treated with some functional groups or doped by nitrogen are effective materials to modify the overall properties. To improve the catalytic activity of catalysts, functionalized graphene oxide supported platinum particles were prepared to study the surface modification effects. We presented the morphological and electrochemical properties of N-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-RGO) supported platinum particles. The N-RGO was prepared by coating N-containing polymer on RGO with the aid of an anionic surfactant and a following pyrolysis at 800 ℃. The morphologies and microstructures of the resulting products were examined by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As a result, the average particle size of Pt/N-RGO was found to be 2.5 nm which was smaller than 2.9 nm of Pt/RGO. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements revealed that modified catalyst showed the higher catalytic activity and the larger value in electrochemical surface area in comparison to those of the pristine catalysts. The results confirmed that the surface modified reduced graphene oxide can be used as a potential support for a fuel cell electrode application.