Reduced graphene oxide assembled Pd-based nanoalloys for hydrogen evolution reaction

Developing novel and efficient electrocatalysts is vital to overcome most of the technical and economic issues associated with the hydrogen production via water electrolysis. Herein, Pd-based alloy nanoparticles, namely AuPd and FePd, assembled on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are investigated as cathode electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline water electrolysis. TEM, HR-TEM, XRD and ICP-MS are used to carry out the structural and morphological characterisation of the as-prepared rGO-AuPd and rGO-FePd nanocomposites and their electrocatalytic activity and stability is studied by voltammetry and chronoamperometry measurements. rGO-AuPd and rGO-FePd show HER onset overpotentials of 80 and 140 mV, respectively. A Tafel slope of 149 mV dec−1 is evaluated for rGO-AuPd at 25 °C, while rGO-FePd has worse performance. It is shown that rGO-AuPd nanocomposites are good candidates for application as novel electrocatalysts for the HER in alkaline media.