In situ fabrication of platinum/graphene composite shell on polymer microspheres through reactive self-assembly and in situ reduction

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2013-02, Vol.48 (3), p.1127-1133
• Main Authors: Oh, Joon-Suk, Luong, Nguyen Dang, Hwang, Tae-Seon, Hong, Jung-Pyo, Lee, Young Kwan, Nam, Jae-Do
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Composite structures; Core-shell structure; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Electric properties; Electrical conductivity; Electrical properties; Electrical resistivity; Graphene; Materials Science; Microspheres; Nanoparticles; Organic chemistry; Oxides; Particulate composites; Platinum; Polymer industry; Polymer matrix composites; Polymer Sciences; Polymers; Self assembly; Sheets; Shells; Solid Mechanics
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-012-6848-6

We present a simple method to fabricate a uniform-sized graphene–metal–polymer composite microsphere of core–shell structure. On the surface of amine-functionalized polymer microsphere, graphene oxide (GO) sheets were affixed to give a core–shell structure by self-assembly process followed by the immobilization of platinum (Pt) ions to the assembled GO shell. Subsequently, they were chemically reduced in situ converting both GO and Pt ions to reduced GO (RGO) and Pt nanoparticles (NPs), respectively. As a result, a robust RGO-Pt composite shell, composed of RGO sheets and well-distributed Pt NPs, was fabricated on the microsphere surface. Meanwhile, the insulative GO shell was converted to the conductive RGO-Pt shell giving 24.0 S m −1 of electrical conductivity. We demonstrated that the electrical property of the shell was significantly improved by the incorporation of Pt NPs.