A review of approaches for the design of high-performance metal/graphene electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications

Metal/graphene electrocatalysts have attracted growing attention in recent years due to their high catalyst loadings, good activity, and high stabilities. In this review, we summarize various approaches towards improving the efficiencies of metal/graphene electrocatalysts in terms of both cost and performance, based on optimization of the graphene support and the metal catalyst particles themselves. Thus, four different approaches are examined: (1) increasing the catalyst/support binding energy, (2) inducing additional anchoring and active sites, (3) enlarging the effective catalyst surface areas, and (4) enhancing the intrinsic catalytic activity through modification of the electronic structure. Finally, remarks on necessary future work in this area will be given in the context of producing metal/graphene electrocatalysts better suited to fuel cell applications. (C) 2018 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.