Electrochemical Synthesis of Conductive Polymers to Enhance Carbon Supports for Metal Catalysts

Abstract

In this project is based on the synthesis of electrically conductive polymers as supports for metal catalysts using the rotating disk slurry electrode (RoDSE) technique, in which isolated atoms, clusters and metal nanoparticles are deposited on an unsupported nanocarbon material. The aim of the research is the use of RoDSE to electrochemically synthesize nanoparticles based on polypyrrole as support for metallic catalysts. This technique will also be used to produce coatings of polypyrrole-based conducting polymers on nanocarbon supports to increase their surface. The first step is the synthesis of nanodiamonds to carbon nano-onions (CNO) using a thermal process. Once the product was obtained, it was characterized using the Raman and XRD technique. In the Raman, the signals are observed approximately 1300 cm-1 and 1700 cm-1, whereas in the X-ray diffraction diffractograms the peaks are observed approximately at 25° and 40°. Second, a synthesis was performed with the CNO to oxidize the layers of CNO particles with sulfuric acid. The follow step will be using RoDSE to deposit polypyrrole as support. To confirm these results, infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and Raman techniques will be used to identify support materials. The techniques of cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy will be used to identify the conductive polymers for their electrochemical properties. The dynamic light scattering technique will also be used to determine the size of the particles and the interactions with the polymers. Finally, the scanning electron microscopy technique will be used to obtain images of the analyzed surface.