Reduced Graphene Oxide Sheets with Added Pt-Pd Alloy Nanoparticles as a Good Electro-catalyst for Ethanol Oxidation

This work investigates the use of platinum and palladium alloy nanoparticles (PtPdNPs) embedded on highly hybridized reduced graphene oxide sheets (RGOs) as an excellent anode catalyst for ethanol oxidation. Cyclic voltammetery and the amperometric method were applied to evaluate the catalytic performance of the modified electrodes in terms of the electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol. RGOs/PtPdNPs catalysts exhibited much higher catalytic activity and current density than monometallic nanoparticle catalysts in an alkaline solution. The current density of RGOs/PtPdNPs catalyst was measured of 120.2 mA/cm(2), moreover, the onset potential of this electrode was of -0.671 mV with a forward and backward current ratio of 1.7. These results reveal that the catalyst electrode has good electrocatalytic activity and a moderate tolerance in opposition to the poisoning by intermediates formed during the ethanol electroxidation.