Synthesis of Pt nanoparticles on reduce graphene oxide by gamma radiation in order to methanol electrooxidation

Because of wide range of applications such as wastewater treatment, biosensors, electrochemical sensors, energy storage systems and fuel cells, investigations have been focused on the synthesis of supported metal nanoparticles [1]. The properties of these materials are strongly related to the method of preparation and it is one the major topics studied in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) [2]. Different reducing agents have been reported for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles but there is still a need to find eco-friendly, easy and effective method to produce nanoparticles with a more homogeneous size and shape [3, 4]. To this reason at this study, the ability of synthesis nanoparticles Platinum (Pt) on reduce graphene oxide (rGO) by gamma radiation method at room temperature and ambient pressure was considered. The reduction of Pt/rGO was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and cyclic voltammetry. Pt nanoparticles were successfully dispersed on the surface of graphene sheets (Fig.1, 2). The obtained materials displayed the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure of Pt with mean nanoparticles sizes of around 5.578 nm (Fig.1, 2). A value of 1.056 cm2 of the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) was obtained for Pt/rGO in acid medium with 50 mV/s scan rate. The experimental results reveal that this procedure offers a facile, economic, green route for develop electrocatalysts without using additional reducing agent or producing undesirable byproducts.