Facile Solid‐State Synthesis of Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 Reinforced Graphene Oxide for Enhanced Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline Fuel Cell

Abstract Here, we report a rudimentary simple solid‐state heat treatment route for the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) reinforced with silver nanoparticles decorated graphitic carbon nitride (Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 ) to develop an efficient Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 @GO electro‐catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The reinforcement of GO dramatically enhances the electro‐catalytic activity of the Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 composite material by increasing the conductivity of the low conducting g‐C 3 N 4 base material. Thorough characterization of the as prepared material by XRD, SEM, TEM, Raman, EDX and electrochemical techniques confirms that Ag nanoparticles decorated g‐C 3 N 4 matrix is homogeneously reinforced with the GO. The electro‐catalyst demonstrate excellent ORR activity following four electron pathway with lower onset potential and higher limiting current density as compared to the several other reported Ag‐based nanostructured materials including Ag NPs supported on Vulcan carbon. The continuously decreasing Tafel slope (from 154 mV/dec for g‐C 3 N 4 to 117 mV/dec for Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 @GO) and increasing exchange current density (from 6.46 x 10 −8 Acm −2 for g‐C 3 N 4 to 1.58 x 10 −5 Acm −2 for Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 @GO) suggests the much facile electrodics on the surface of Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 @GO modified electrodes than that of g‐C 3 N 4 and Ag/g‐C 3 N 4 . Furthermore, the catalyst shows excellent methanol tolerance activity and electrochemical stability towards long term applications.