Interface and Charge Induced Molecular Self-Assembly Strategy for the Synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide Coated with Mesoporous Platinum Sheets

The design of porous noble metal catalysts holds great promise in various electrocatalytic applications. However, it is still a challenge to improve the durability performance through constructing stable framework. Here, an interface and charge induced strategy is developed to synthesize large-sized continuous reduced graphene oxide@mesoporous platinum (denoted as rGO@mPt) sheets under kinetic control by molecular self-assembly design. Graphene oxide (GO) is a promising large-sized growth interface for platinum. Cationic surfactant dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride bridges the negatively charged GO and platinum precursors, while creating interconnected mesopores. The successful synthesis of rGO@mPt sheets relies on proper kinetic control, which is achieved by controlling pH, temperature, and the complexation of bromide ions. rGO@mPt sheets present strong crystallinity with a pure face-centered cubic Pt phase. Worm-like mesostructures with an average pore size of 2.2 nm exist throughout the sheets. rGO@mPt sheets possess both stable framework and abundant active sites, which markedly improve the durability on methanol oxidation reaction while maintaining relatively good catalytic activity. Long-term stability test shows a slight loss of 1.2% activity after 250 cycles. Amperometric i-t curves reveal the mass current three times higher compared to commercial Pt/C at 3000 s.

Automated summary

Large-sized continuous reduced graphene oxide@mesoporous platinum (rGO@mPt) sheets were synthesized using an interface and charge induced strategy. The rGO@mPt sheets have a stable framework, abundant active sites, and significantly improved durability and catalytic activity in methanol oxidation reaction.