Abstract

A plasma jet (a high temperature jet formed by blowing a free arc through high pressure air) method based on free arc was carried out to disperse carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in gas phase while generating Pt nanoparticles (Pt-NPs) on them at the same time. The plasma jet is generated through the discharge between the cathode composed of CNTs, PtCl4 and DI water and the anode with a hole. Plasma jet prepares the Pt/CNT catalyst by directly spraying. The CNT carrier in the catalyst have good dispersion by SEM images. The mean size of Pt-NPs estimated by TEM images is 3.41 nm with the plasma jet method and about 4.77 nm with the commercial Pt/C respectively. It was showed that the bulk of Pt-NPs produced by plasma jet is in metal state in the analysis of XPS measurements. Compared with Pt/C, Pt/CNT have roughly equal catalytic activity and higher durability by cyclic voltammetry measurements. Based on these properties, the plasma injection method solves the problems of carrier dispersion and metal particle preparation at the same time, which greatly simplifies the catalyst preparation process.

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