One-step thermal synthesis of graphene nanosheet-metal nanoparticle hybrids from graphite–liquid crystal–metal salt composite

• A facile one-step thermal-assisted method is reported for synthsis of GNSs-MNPs.
• The proposed method needs no functionalization of the GNSs surface.
• The hybrids can be applied for fabrication of a new type of nanocomposite electrodes.

A facile one-step thermal-assisted method is reported to synthesize graphene nanosheet-metal nanoparticle hybrids. For this purpose, graphite, ionic liquid crystal and the metal salt were mixed to form a uniform composite. After thermal treatment, graphene nanosheets were synthesized and simultaneously, the noble metal nanoparticles were uniformly anchored on the surface of graphene nanosheets. The method needs no functionalization of the graphene surface. This is an efficient method for high yield production of graphene nanosheet-metal nanoparticle hybrid that can be used for design and fabrication of nanocomposite electrodes. In this work, graphene nanosheet-Ag nanoparticle hybrid was used for the fabrication of graphene nanosheet-Ag nanoparticle/ionic liquid electrode and its electrocatalytic effect was investigated towards oxygen reduction.

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