Enhanced Catalytic Activity of Pt Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide Electrodes for Fuel Cells

We report an efficient method for the synthesis of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide supported Pt nanocatalysts (Pt/N-RGO). Nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-RGO) was prepared by pyrolysis of graphene oxide with cyanamide as a nitrogen source. Then, the Pt nanoparticles were deposited over N-RGO by one-step chemical polyol reduction process. The morphology and structure of as-prepared catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Subsequently, electrocatalytic activities of the catalysts were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). As a result, the Pt/N-RGO catalysts exhibit the superior electrochemical activity toward methanol oxidation in compared with that of Pt loaded on undoped reduced graphene oxide (Pt/RGO) and Pt/carbon blacks (Pt/C). This was mainly attributed to the better distribution of Pt nanoparticles as well as the synergistic electrochemical effects of the nitrogen doped supports. These results demonstrate that N-RGO could be a promising candidate as a high performance catalyst support for a fuel cell application.