Tunable graphene-based metal nanocomposite materials for electro-catalytic application

该项目的目标是明确合成以钴或铜纳米颗粒装饰的石墨烯基复合材料。在开发定义的横向尺寸的还原石墨烯溶液的基础上，应控制生成的颗粒的大小。确定合成参数的影响以及不同起始石墨材料对生成复合材料最终尺寸的影响是这一提议的关键部分。利用还原石墨烯溶液的电化学势来生成可调复合材料是一种独特的合成方法。这种方法的优点是：(I)不需要添加进一步的还原剂，因此只产生一个副产物(Ii)该概念可用于合成各种不同的金属/复合材料(Iii)在还原的石墨烯溶液中，主要是单层材料存在，因此将实现双方的成功装饰(Iv)金属盐的还原在靠近碳骨架的地方进行，生成的颗粒预计会产生强烈的相互作用。对产生的材料的化学和物理性质的研究是这项研究计划的核心部分。同时，它们的良好特性应该在实际应用中得到开发。基于石墨烯的钴和铜纳米粒子是氧还原反应(ORR)和二氧化碳还原反应(CO2RR)的杰出电催化剂。基于不同的复合材料，应揭示催化活性与附着在碳骨架上的纳米颗粒的大小之间的直接关联，以便从机理上了解这些反应。

The aim of this project is the defined synthesis of graphene based composite materials, decorated with cobalt or copper nanoparticles. Based on the exploitation of reduced graphene solutions of defined lateral dimensions, the sizes of the generated particles shall be controlled. Determining the influence of the synthesis parameters as well as the influence of various starting graphite materials on the final sizes of the generated composite materials, is a crucial part of this proposal.The exploitation of the electrochemical potential of the reduced graphene solutions for the generation of tuneable composite materials is an unique synthetic approach. The advantages of this method are: (i) no further reduction agent needs to be added, thus only one by-product is generated (ii) the concept can be used to synthesize a broad variety of different metal / composite materials (iii) in the reduced graphene solution, predominantly single layered material is present and therefore a successful decoration of both sides will be achieved (iv) the reduction of the metal salts proceed in close proximity to the carbon framework and a strong interaction of the generated particle is anticipated. The study of the chemical and physical properties of the generated materials is a central part of this research proposal. Simultaneously, their promising properties shall be exploited in real word applications. Graphene based cobalt and copper nanoparticles are remarkable eletrocatalyts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as well as for the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR). Based on the different composite materials, a direct correlation between the catalytic activity and the size of the nanoparticles attached to the carbon framework shall be revealed in order to gain mechanistic insights in these reactions.