Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 June 2011
The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is a promising power source for electronic applications due to its high efficiency and compactness. To improve the efficiency, many support materials have been developed. We investigated uniform graphene nanoflake films as a support for catalytic Pt nanoparticles in direct carbon monooxide and formic acid electro-oxidation. Pt nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of graphene films with chemical reduction method. Chemical functionalization of graphene with ethylenediamine enables Pt nanoparticles mobilize on graphene uniformly. By simply changing the loading amount of Pt precursor, various particle sizes were achieved. The particle size of Pt plays prominent role in fuel cell test. The electrochemically active surface area of different sample are 6.3 (5 wt% Pt/G), 4.1 (20 wt% Pt/G), and 3.0 (50 wt% Pt/G) cm2mg-1 corresponding to the particle size 3±1nm, 10±2nm, 20±2nm respectively. The results obtained are ascribed to a uniform network made of 2-4 nm Pt monolayer nanopaticles on the surface of graphene flakes. Graphene will play significant role in developing next-generation advanced Pt based fuel cells and their relevant electrodes in the field of energy.