Synthesis of high performing Cu0.31Ni0.69O/rGO hybrid for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline medium

Abstract In this feature article, Cu 0.31 Ni 0.69 O nanoparticles were assembled on reduced graphene nanosheets (Cu 0.31 Ni 0.69 O/rGO) by a simple hydrothermal method. The structural characterizations confirm that the synthesized nanoparticles with an average size around 9 nm are densely and uniformly assembled on the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets. The electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the as-synthesized Cu 0.31 Ni 0.69 O/rGO catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance for oxygen reduction reaction with high cathodic current density (2.08 × 10 −4  mA/cm 2 ), positive onset potential (−0.21 V), low H 2 O 2 yielding rate (less than 2.5%) and long-term running stability. The rotating disk and rotating ring-disk electrode measurements proved that the oxygen reduction reaction occurs on Cu 0.31 Ni 0.69 O/rGO through a high efficient four-electron pathway. The Cu 0.31 Ni 0.69 O/rGO nanoparticles shows great potential to be promising noble metal-free catalyst for cathodes of alkaline fuel cells.