Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 5, Issue 3, Pages 782-787Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/am3022366
Keywords
three-dimensional graphene; ferritin; protein nanocage; Pt electrocatalyst; fuel cells
Funding
- NTU Institute of Nanosystems Interface Sciences and Technology (INSIST)
- AcRF Tier 2 grant from Ministry of Education of Singapore [MOE2011-T2-2-010]
- NNSF of China [21275076, 61076067]
- Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education [212058]
- Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China [20123223110008]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2012CB933300]
- Jiangsu Province Science Foundation for Six Great Talent Peak [RLD201103]
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The monolithic three-dimensional (3D) graphene network is used as the support for Pt nanoparticles (NPs) to fabricate an advanced 3D graphene-based electrocatalyst. Distinct from previous strategies, the monoclispersed Pt NPs with ultrafine particle size (similar to 3 nm) are synthesized using ferritin protein nanocages as the template and subsequently self-assembled on the 3D graphene by leveraging on the hydrophobic interaction between the ferritin and the graphene. Following the self-assembly, the ferritins are removed, resulting in a stable Pt NP/3D graphene composite. The composite exhibits much enhanced electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation as compared with both Pt NP/chemically reduced graphene oxide (Pt/r-GO) and state-of-the-art Pt/C catalyst. The observed electrocatalytic activity also shows marked improvement over Pt/3D graphene prepared by pulse electrodeposition of Pt. This study demonstrates that protein nanocage templating and assembly are promising strategies for the fabrication of functional composites in catalysis and fuel cell applications.
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