2578
Graphene-PEDOT-Platinum Tertiary Composite Material Based Catalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Tuesday, 15 May 2018
Ballroom 6ABC (Washington State Convention Center)
H. Wang (UCLA), R. Hou (University of Alberta), M. Li (UCLA), M. El-kady (University of Cairo), and R. B. Kaner (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
We fabricated a Laser Scribed Graphene-PEDOT-Platinum (LSG-PEDOT-Pt) tertiary composite material, using a three-step synthesis process, to investigate its catalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance: 1. Graphene oxide film was photo-thermally reduced via a CO­­2 laser into laser-scribed graphene (LSG). 2. A layer of PEDOT polymer was grown on top of the LSG film using vapor assisted polymerization methods to yield a LSG-PEDOT composite film. 3. Platinum nanoparticles were deposited on the LSG-PEDOT composite via pulse-potentiometry. The vapor-assisted polymerized PEDOT decorates the surface of the LSG, forming nanoribbon/wire like structures. The pulse potentiommetry enables platinum to grow vertically on top of the LSG-PEDOT substrate, forming arrays of nanowires. The composite material shows better HER performances than metal platinum in 0.5M H2SO4 solution, with a very low Tafel slope of 29mV/decade, 15mV (vs. RHE) onset overpotential, and achieves 10mA/cm2 current density at a low overpotential of 35mV (vs. RHE). Even though LSG-PEDOT is an intrinsically poor HER catalyst, its high surface area, high conductivity and low charge transfer resistance make LSG-PEDOT a good substrate for HER catalysis material, as demonstrated by the performances of LSG-PEDOT-Pt. LSG-PEDOT composite material could be a promising base material for developing non-noble metal based catalysts.