Fabrication of metal-graphene hybrid materials by electroless deposition

By taking advantage of the redox potential differences between substrate and the metal ions (Mm+/M), and the excellent conductivity of graphene sheets, a versatile platform, electroless deposition, is used for the synthesis of metal (M)-graphene hybrid materials (M=Ag, Au, Pd, Pt and Cu) by immersing graphene sheets coated on metal (Cu or Zn) foils into solutions containing the corresponding precursors, which have higher redox potentials than that of Cu or Zn foil. The size and density of the metal nanoparticles on the graphene sheet surface can be controlled by rationally designing of the experiments. Stacks of metal-decorated graphenes were obtained by repeating the processes of graphene-coating and metal-depositing. Pt-graphene hybrid materials have shown good electrocatalytic activity toward methanol oxidation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.