Size dependence electrocatalytic activity of gold nanoparticles decorated reduced graphene oxide for hydrogen evolution reaction

作者:Yang, Qingxiang; Dong, Mengguo; Song, Haimei; Cao, Liu; Zhang, Yan; Wang, Lijie; Zhang, Pengbo; Chen, Zhijun*
来源:Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics , 2017, 28(14): 10073-10080.
DOI:10.1007/s10854-017-6768-y

摘要

It is promising for AuNPs/RGO composites to be exploited for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), due to the collaborative effects between the electrocatalytic Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) and conductive reduced graphene oxide (RGO). In this work, we used a simple way to decorate AuNPs onto the RGO surface by one pot in situ reduction both HAuCl4 and GO, for which the controlled average size of AuNPs (2.7, 11.5 and 45.7 nm) is adjusting with the mass ratio of HAuCl4 and GO. The obtained materials, AuNPs/RGO composites, show excellent electrocatalytic activity for the HER that critical dependence on the particle size of AuNPs. The results show that AuNPs/RGO with AuNPs size of 11.5 nm exhibits superior electrochemical activity: low onset potential of 0.029 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode as well as a small Tafel slope of 86 mV per decade.