Preparation of platinum/polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube nanocomposite with sugarcoated haws structure for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

Abstract

Polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites synthesized in situ by cyclic voltammetry method on glassy carbon electrodes were employed as substrate layer for platinum nanoparticles to fabricate platinum/polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube nanocomposites (PPMC). The microstructures characterizations revealed that the polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube rods with diameters 200 nm were similar to the shape of stick, and Pt nanoparticles with diameters 260 nm were similar to the shape of sugarcoated haws. The cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and chronoamperometry methods were used to investigate the catalytic performance of the composite. The experimental results showed that the PPMC had superior electro-catalytic performance toward methanol oxidation of platinum/polyaniline/multi-walled carbon nanotube to commercial Pt/C catalysts. The composite would have broad applications in direct methanol fuel cell field as new catalytic material.