Pt-AlOOH-SiO sub(2)/graphene hybrid nanomaterial with very high electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation

Hybrid materials comprising of Pt dispersed on AlOOH, SiO sub(2) doped graphene are successfully synthesized. The structure and morphology of the catalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction, TEM, HRTEM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Their electrocatalytic properties are investigated by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and chronopotentiometry. The experimental results show that the presence of AlOOH and SiO sub(2) favors the Pt nanoparticles dispersion on the graphene sheets. This greatly improves the electrocatalytic activities of Pt/graphene catalysts for methanol oxidation. In particular, the catalyst containing 7% of Al and Si exhibits the best electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation with mass activity of 1720 mA mg super(-1). Therefore, Pt-AlOOH-SiO sub(2)graphene hybrid is shown to be an effective catalyst for fuel cell application.