Facile morphology controllable synthesis of PtPd nanorods on graphene-multiwalled carbon nanotube hybrid support as efficient electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction

[Display omitted] •G–M hybrid was prepared by a novel modified Hummers method followed by thermal annealing.•G–M was verified to be more efficient as the electrocatalyst support compared with G.•Ultrathin PtPd alloy nanorods were supported on the G–M hybrid.•The electrochemical activity of PtPd NRs/G–M outperforms the commercial Pt/C. One-dimensional (1D) anisotropic platinum-based nanorods are particularly attractive electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) owing to the inherent structural advantages. In this work, we report the growth of ultrathin PtPd alloy nanorods (3–4 nm) on Graphene-Multiwalled carbon nanotube (G–M) hybrid support via a facile surfactant-free and template-free method as the efficient electrocatalyst for ORR. The as-synthesized PtPd NRs/G–M catalyst exhibits more excellent activity and better durability toward ORR than Pt NRs/G and Pt NRs/G–M catalysts. Noteworthily, it shows an outstanding half-wave potential of 0.810 V and mass activity of 49.5 mA mg–1 at 0.85 V, which are 30 mV and 2.1 times higher than those of commercial 40 wt% Pt/C (JM40) catalyst, respectively. After the accelerated durability tests (ADTs), it also maintains superior stability than JM40. The superior performance is attributed to the combination of the advantageous 1D morphological motif and the synergistic effect with G–M support.