Characterizations of in situ grown ceria nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide as a catalyst for the electrooxidation of hydrazine

Ceria (CeO2) nanoparticles were grown on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) via the in situ reduction of graphene oxide (GO) in the presence of cerium nitrate and CTAB, followed by a one step hydrothermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Raman spectroscopy (RS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to characterize the samples. The characterization suggests that the ammonia-assisted hydrothermal method is a facile and advantageous route to synthesize CeO2–RGO nanocomposites compared to the widely used method utilising hydrazine hydrate as the reducing reagent. TEM investigations revealed that the CeO2 nanoparticles with an average size of ∼14 nm were dispersed on the layers of RGO. The catalytic activity of the CeO2–RGO nanocomposites towards the electrooxidation of hydrazine was further investigated by cyclic voltammetry measurements. The results obtained suggest that compared to bare CeO2 nanoparticles, the CeO2–RGO nanocomposite exhibits remarkably enhanced electrocatalytic activity, due to the synergistic effects between the CeO2 nanoparticles and RGO.