Uranium- and Thorium-Doped Graphene for Efficient Oxygen and Hydrogen Peroxide Reduction

0433172 - ÚJF 2015 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Sofer, Z. - Jankovský, O. - Šimek, P. - Klimová, K. - Macková, Anna - Pumera, M.
Uranium- and Thorium-Doped Graphene for Efficient Oxygen and Hydrogen Peroxide Reduction.
ACS Nano. Roč. 8, č. 7 (2014), s. 7106-7114. ISSN 1936-0851. E-ISSN 1936-086X
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GBP108/12/G108
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : graphene * actinides * electrochemistry * oxygen reduction * uranium
Subject RIV: BG - Nuclear, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Colliders
Impact factor: 12.881, year: 2014

Oxygen reduction and hydrogen peroxide reduction are technologically important reactions in the fields of energy generation and sensing. Metal-doped graphenes, where metal serves as the catalytic center and graphene as the high area conductor, have been used as electrocatalysts for such applications. In this paper, we investigated the use of uranium-graphene and thorium-graphene hybrids prepared by a simple and scalable method. The hybrids were synthesized by the thermal exfoliation of either uranium- or thorium-doped graphene oxide in various atmospheres. The synthesized graphene hybrids were characterized by high-resolution XPS, SEM, SEM-EDS, combustible elemental analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. The influence of dopant and exfoliation atmosphere on electrocatalytic activity was determined by electrochemical measurements. Both hybrids exhibited excellent electrocatalytic properties toward oxygen and hydrogen peroxide reduction, suggesting that actinide-based graphene hybrids have enormous potential for use in energy conversion and sensing devices.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0237447