Urea from human and animal waste has the potential to be an important fuel source for both hydrogen generation and in fuel cells. Nickel was deposited onto graphene oxide by both impregnation with hydrazine from nickel salts and with nickel oxide onto graphene oxide yielding both Ni/rGO and NiO@rGO catalysts. Both sets of catalysts were annealed under argon in a furnace at 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700 OC to study the effects on both the structure and the urea oxidation capabilities. SEM images showed minimal change in the macro morphology of both the nickel and nickel oxide morphology on the reduced graphene sheets. XRD patterns showed an increase in size of the crystalline nickel nanoparticles in both the nickel and nickel oxide as the temperature increased. The d-spacing of the graphitic lattice also decreased in size as the temperature was increased. Raman spectra showed an increase in the ID/IG ratio in the graphitic lattice as the temperature increased showing an increase in disorder of the sp2 carbon lattice. The NiO@rGO catalysts showed an increase in urea oxidation activity as the annealing temperature increased while the Ni/rGO catalysts showed an overall decrease in urea oxidation activity as the annealing temperature increased.

Effect of annealing temperature on graphene supported nickel catalysts with regards to its structure and urea oxidation properties

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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