Graphene/carbon nanospheres sandwich supported PEM fuel cell metal nanocatalysts with remarkably high activity and stability

A new strategy to synthesize novel nano-sandwiched graphene/carbon/graphene (GCG) composites is described, employing the aqueous dispersion of low cost carbon nanospheres (CNS) in graphene oxide layers with subsequent thermal reduction. This 3D GCG sandwich shows a particular exfoliated graphene morphology, with CNS regularly embedded into the graphene nanosheets (GNS), from SEM and high-resolution TEM observations. The incorporation of CNS not only increases the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area due to the effective expansion of the graphene interlayer, but also enhances the electrochemically accessible surface area and the charge transfer speed at the GCG-electrolyte interfaces due to a high density of between-plane electrolyte diffusion channels, that facilitate the reaction species transport and electron transport at high rates. As a result, this unique GCG nanoarchitecture with highly dispersed Pt particles exhibits a very high electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The half cell ORR mass activity of the Pt/GCG catalyst (17.7 A g(-1)) is 2.2 times of that of Pt/GNS (8.2 A g(-1)), and 3.8 times that of commercial Pt/C catalysts (4.6 A g(-1)). Moreover, the Pt/GCG catalyst also shows excellent electrochemical stability. Therefore our new catalyst holds tremendous promise for potential applications in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.