Investigations of Gold-Graphene Nanocomposite for ORR in Aqueous Electrolytes

Abstract

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential reaction step in fuel cell and metal-air batteries. The kinetics of ORR is very sluggish; it requires very high potential to occur. Many interesting articles have been published to enhance the kinetics. In this direction, we are working on metal nanoparticles modified graphene sheet. Gold nanoparticles are attached on two dimensional graphene sheets by in-situ reduction of metal ion in an aqueous reaction mixture. The synthesized nanocomposite is characterized by powder XRD, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. Microscopy image shows gold nanoparticles are attached to graphene sheets. ORR is studied in 0.1 M KOH and 0.1 M K₂SO₄ electrolytes. O₂ reduction in aqueous electrolytes produces water molecules on gold-graphene nanocomposite.