Carbon Nanotubes-PEDOT/PSS-Au, Pt, Pd Nanoparticle Composite for Catalytic Applications.

CESAR A. BARBERO; GABRIEL PLANES; EMILIA MORALLÓN; M. SERGIO MORENO; HORACIO J. SALAVAGIONE; GUSTAVO M. MORALES

Niza

Congreso; The 61 st Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry. Electrochemistry from Biology to Physics; 2010

This work report a simple and general approach to non-covalent functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) utilizing poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulphonate) (PEDOT-PSS) as polymeric electrolyte. The strategy yields a product free of carbonaceous impurities and stable in water solution by months. Afterwards, the conjugated olygomer present in the composite (PEDOT) can be used to chemically reduce metallic cations -complexed with PSS- to metal nanoparticles (NPs), which are deposited on the sidewalls of the wrapped CNTs to produce the hybrid MWCNT/PEDOT-PSS/metal NPs. The size, shape and distribution of the MeNPs along the CNTs depend on the metal and experimental conditions. The method reported here produces CNTs connected with NPs through a conjugated molecule whose conductance can be switched “on” or “off” externally. Finally, the nanocomposites exhibited high catalytic activity for the reduction of oxygen, which has a great potential application in polymer electrolyte fuel cells.