Hierarchical reduced graphene oxide supported dealloyed platinum-copper nanoparticles for highly efficient methanol electrooxidation

•Hierarchical graphene supporting dealloyed Pt-Cu particles is first reported.•The hierarchical orientation is achieved by one-step cyclic voltammetric technique.•The catalyst exhibits excellent performance for methanol electrooxidation.•The electrodeposition technique is rapid, simple and green.

Exploiting highly efficient electrocatalysts through simple methods is very critical to the development of energy conversion technologies. Herein, we develop a hierarchical reduced graphene oxide supported dealloyed platinum-copper nanoparticle catalyst (Pt-Cu/RGO) by a facile one-step electrodeposition of graphene oxide in the presence of H2PtCl6 and copper ethylenediamine tetraacetate. The nanostructure and composition were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. Meanwhile, the electrocatalytic performance was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry, showing that the Pt-Cu/RGO catalyst not only equips with an outstanding electrocatalytic activity for the methanol oxidation reaction (2.3 times that of commercial Pt/C catalyst), but also shows a robust durability and superior tolerance to CO poisoning. The excellent electrocatalytic performance could be attributed to the three-dimensional hierarchical structure, porous dealloyed nanoparticles and synergistic effect between each component.

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