title: Facile synthesis of graphene/metal nanoparticle composites via self-catalysis reduction at room temperature.
abstract: Graphene/metal nanoparticle (NP) composites have attracted great interest for various applications as catalysts, electrodes, sensors, etc., due to their unique structures and extraordinary properties. A facile synthesis of graphene/metal NP composites with good control of size and morphology of metal NPs is critical to the practical applications. A simple method to synthesize graphene/metal NPs under a controllable manner via a self-catalysis reduction at room temperature has been developed in this paper. At first, metal NPs with desirable size and morphology were decorated on GO and then used as catalyst to accelerate the hydrolysis reaction of NaBH4 to reduce the graphene oxide. Compared to the existing methods, the method reported here features several advantages in which graphene/metal NPs are prepared without using toxic and explosive reductant, such as hydrazine or its derivatives, making it environmentally benign, and the reaction can be processed at room temperature with high efficiency and in a large range of pH values. The approach has been demonstrated to successfully synthesize graphene composites with various metal NPs in large quantity, which opens up a novel and simple way to prepare large-scale graphene/metal or graphene/metal oxide composites under mild conditions for practical applications. For example, graphene/AuNP composites synthesized by the method show excellent catalytic capability.
authors: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon Based Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, People's Republic of China.
authors: Qiqi
authors: Q
authors: Zhuo
authors: Yanyun
authors: Y
authors: Ma
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Gao
authors: Pingping
authors: P
authors: Zhang
authors: Yujian
authors: Y
authors: Xia
authors: Yiming
authors: Y
authors: Tian
authors: Xiuxiao
authors: X
authors: Sun
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Zhong
authors: Xuhui
authors: X
authors: Sun