Facile synthesis of triangular shaped palladium nanoparticles decorated nitrogen doped graphene and their catalytic study for renewable energy applications

We report a novel method for the synthesis of triangular shaped palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) decorated nitrogen doped graphene. Nitrogen doped graphene (N-G) is synthesized by uniform coating of polyelectrolyte modified graphene surface with a nitrogen containing polymer followed by their pyrolysis. The triangular shaped Pd NPs are decorated over nitrogen doped graphene (Pd/N-G) by kinetically controlling the polyol reduction process. The kinetic control of the growth of the nanoparticles and nitrogen doping of the supporting material leads to the formation of highly dispersed anisotropic nanoparticles over the graphene support. Hydrogen storage study of N-G and Pd/N-G give a storage capacity of 1.1 wt% and 1.9 wt%, respectively at 25 °C and 2 MPa hydrogen equilibrium pressure. Electrocatalytic study of Pd/N-G shows that it is a very good electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction and highly stable in acidic media due to the strong binding between Pd NPs and graphene support as a result of nitrogen doping besides has high methanol tolerance in acidic media. The present synthesis procedure highlights a new pathway for the highly dispersed and different morphological metal nanoparticles decorated graphene composites for energy related applications.

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► Novel synthesis method for Pd decorated nitrogen doped graphene (Pd/N-G).
► Influence of nitrogen doping in the growth of metal nanoparticles.
► Highly stable Pd/N-G ORR electrocatalyst with very good methanol tolerance.
► Pd/N-G gives a storage capacity of 1.9 wt% at 25 °C temperature and 2 MPa pressure.