Ultra-Range Bimetallic Pt–Pd Nanospheres Deposited on Reduced Graphene Sheet as Efficient Electrocatalyst Towards Electrooxidation of Methanol

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) offers promising possibilities in meeting future energy needs in a most sustainable way. To electro oxidize methanol at anode of DMFCs, till date Pt and Pt-based materials were widely employed. To improve the utilization of precious metals it is highly desirable to disperse them on conductive carbon structures. Here, we synthesized ultra-range bimetallic platinum–palladium (Pt–Pd) nanospheres (NSs) with uniform dispersion on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets by a simple hydrothermal method and studied their efficacies towards methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). From HR-TEM analysis, it was found that the synthesized bimetallic Pt–Pd NSs possess an average particles size of about 5 to 7 nm consistent with XRD data. The MOR electro catalytic activity of bimetallic PtPd-RGO NSs was higher compared to homemade mono metallic Pt-RGO, Pd-RGO catalysts and commercial E-tekPt/C.