A Facile Preparation of Titanium Dioxide-Iron Oxide@Silicon Dioxide Incorporated Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanohybrid for Electrooxidation of Methanol in Alkaline Medium
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Abstract
An iron oxide-silicon dioxide coated titanium dioxide (TiO2-Fe2O3@SiO2) incorporated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanohybrid was prepared by a simple hydrothermal method using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and graphite flakes as the precursors. Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was used to form a SiO2 coating on Fe2O3 nanoparticle surface (Fe2O3@SiO2). The presence of SiO2 layer would facilitate the formation of Fe2O3 on the TiO2 surface by an electrostatic attraction that led to the formation of TiO2-Fe2O3@SiO2. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results revealed the successful attachment of Fe2O3@SiO2 particles to the TiO2 surface and a uniform distribution of TiO2-Fe2O3@SiO2 composites on the rGO sheet. Furthermore, the rGO/TiO2-Fe2O3@SiO2 nanohybrid modified platinum (Pt) electrode was used for the electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol in alkaline medium. The rGO/TiO2-Fe2O3@SiO2 nanohybrid with weight ratio of 1:3:1 (rGO:TiO2:Fe2O3) showed a higher electrocatalytic activity toward methanol oxidation with an anodic peak current density of 2.45 mA/cm2. Moreover, the nanohybrid displayed a higher stability with 91.58% retention of the initial current density after 5000 s in long term current-time curve. This newly prepared rGO/TiO2-Fe2O3@SiO2 nanohybrid could be a promising anodic catalyst for the direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) application.
Keywords
Iron oxide, Titanium dioxide, Reduced graphene oxide, Nanohybrid, Methanol oxidation
Publication Title
Electrochimica Acta
Divisions
PHYSICS
Funders
University of Malaya: Postgraduate Research Fund (PG122-2014b),Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia: High Impact Research Grant (UM.C/625/1/HIR/MOHE/05)
Volume
192
Publisher
Elsevier