Facile synthesis of PtAu nanoparticles supported on polydopamine reduced and modified graphene oxide as a highly active catalyst for methanol oxidation

In this paper, a facile strategy for the synthesis of PtAu nanoparticles (NPs) with different Pt/Au ratios supported on polydopamine reduced and modified graphene oxide (PtAu/PDA-RGO) is reported. The as-prepared PtAu/PDA-RGO composites were extensively analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical measurements. It is found that PDA plays an important role in enhancing the dispersion and stability of the catalyst. Moreover, the bimetallic PtAu/PDA-RGO catalysts exhibits higher catalytic activity than the monometallic Pt/PDA-RGO toward methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), with the best performance found for the Pt/Au molar ratio of 3/1. The PtAu(3:1)/PDA-RGO catalyst also shows better catalytic activity for MOR than PtAu(3:1)/RGO and PtAu(3:1)/C catalysts, suggesting that PDA-RGO can be a promising catalyst support for fuel cells. These findings also indicate that the molar ratios of Pt/Au and the catalyst support are the two critical factors to affect the overall performance of the catalyst.