Volume 173, 2014

Oxygen reduction reaction by electrochemically reduced graphene oxide

Abstract

We show that a partially reduced graphene oxide electrocatalyst, synthesized by electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO), displays significantly enhanced catalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline solutions compared to the starting GO. The electrochemical partial reduction of GO was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) verified the enhanced electron transfer ability of the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ErGO) compared to GO. The resultant ErGO electrode showed enhanced capacitance and an ORR onset potential of −0.11 V vs. Ag/AgCl, similar to that of a nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide (NrGO) electrode produced by a hydrothermal process. However the ErGO exhibited considerably lower electron transfer numbers (2.0–3.3 at a potential range of −0.4 V to −1.0 V) indicating that although both catalysts operate under combined 4e and 2e ORR processes, ErGO follows a more predominant 2e pathway. The ORR process in ErGO has been linked to the presence of quinone functional groups, which favour the 2e ORR pathway.

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 May 2014
Accepted
02 Jun 2014
First published
02 Jun 2014

Faraday Discuss., 2014,173, 415-428

Author version available

Oxygen reduction reaction by electrochemically reduced graphene oxide

S. K. Bikkarolla, P. Cumpson, P. Joseph and P. Papakonstantinou, Faraday Discuss., 2014, 173, 415 DOI: 10.1039/C4FD00088A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements