The increasing energy demand, depleting crude oil reserves, and the rising environmental concerns associated with fossil fuel use have shifted the global community's focus towards alternative clean energy technologies, with hydrogen playing a significant role. Among the end-use applications of hydrogen, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are potential candidates for zero-emission electricity generation. In PEMFCs, the H2 fuel is oxidized on one side while oxygen is reduced on the other, generating water as the only by-product. The catalyst commonly used for these reactions is platinum deposited on high surface area carbon (Pt/C), which had been a major obstacle to the commercialization of PEMFCs due to the high cost of Pt and durability issues associated with the carbon support.

Graphene has emerged as a suitable support material among the various alternatives due to its excellent theoretical properties and better stability during fuel cell operation. Most of the synthesis procedures employ strong oxidising agents, energy intensive processes, or longer processing times, leading to bottlenecks in graphene production. There is also an interplay between the extent of graphitization required for corrosion resistance vs. the availability of functional groups for Pt incorporation. In this work, we have explored a simple one-pot room temperature synthesis procedure for preparing nitrogen-doped graphene. We have also explored the use of alternative techniques for the incorporation of platinum on the graphene support. To tackle the issue of graphene sheets agglomeration leading to poor mass transfer of reactants, non-carbon based co-supports have been examined. The optimized support will be extended to study the durability of high performing Pt catalysts.