Carbon-supported metal catalysts are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis. In this paper, we report a novel method to deposit metal catalysts and metal oxide nanoparticles on two-dimensional graphene sheets to improve the catalytic performance and stability of the catalyst materials. The new synthesis method allows indium tin oxide (ITO) nanocrystals to be directly grown on functionalized graphene sheets forming the ITO-graphene hybrids. Pt nanoparticles are then deposited to form a special triple-junction structure (Pt-ITO-graphene). Both experimental study and periodic density functional theory calculations show that the supported Pt nanoparticles are stable at Pt-ITO-graphene triple junction points. The new catalyst materials were tested for oxygen reduction for potential applications in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, and they exhibited greatly enhanced stability and activity. The reasons for the high stability and activity of Pt-ITO-graphene are analyzed.
Revised: February 23, 2011 |
Published: March 2, 2011
Citation
Kou R., Y. Shao, D. Mei, Z. Nie, D. Wang, C.M. Wang, and V.V. Viswanathan, et al. 2011.Stabilization of Electrocatalytic Metal Nanoparticles at Metal-Metal Oxide-Graphene Triple Junction Points.Journal of the American Chemical Society 133, no. 8:2541-2547.PNNL-SA-74979.doi:10.1021/ja107719u