Rapid reduction of GO by hydrogen spill-over mechanism by in situ generated nanoparticles at room temperature and their catalytic performance towards 4-nitrophenol reduction and ethanol oxidation

•Rapid and green synthesis of Pt and Pd based graphene hybrid catalysts by exploiting the hydrogen spill-over process.•Catalytic activity of the hybrids towards 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) conversion at room temperature.•Ethanol oxidation using the hybrids.•Current density for Pd@rGO is comparable to commercial Pt/C but is double for Pt@rGO.•Both hybrid catalysts show very stable catalytic activity compared to commercial Pt/C.

Here, we report the clean and facile synthesis of Pt and Pd nanoparticles decorated on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by the simultaneous reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and the metal ions in Mg/acid medium. As-generated Pt and Pd nanoparticles serve as a heterogeneous catalyst for the further reduction of the rGO by the hydrogen spill-over process. The C/O ratio is much higher as compared to the rGO obtained by the reduction of GO by only Mg/acid. Overall, the process is rapid, facile and green that does not require any toxic chemical agent or any rigorous chemical reactions. We perform the catalytic reduction of 4-nitophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) at room temperature by Pd@rGO and Pt@rGO. The reduction is complete within 35 s for Pd@rGO and 60 s for Pt@rGO when 50 μg of hybrid catalyst is used for 0.5 ml of 1 mM of 4-NP. In case of ethanol oxidation, the current density for Pd@rGO is comparable to commercial Pt/C but is doubled for Pt@rGO. Overall, both structures show highly stable catalytic activity compared to commercial Pt/C.

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