Fullerene-Based Carbon Nanostructures for Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Films of C 60 clusters were electrophoretically deposited on optically transparent electrode surfaces. These C 60 films constitute a new class of carbon electrodes with properties that differ from graphite and diamond electrodes. The electrophoretically deposited C 60 cluster film is highly porous and is quite stable to oxidative potentials. Hence C 60 film provides an electrochemical window to carry out oxidation processes. Upon electrodeposition of platinum particles, these nanostructured carbon films show remarkable activity toward methanol oxidation. The dependence of methanol oxidation on the amount of platinum and C 60 in a half-cell reaction demonstrates the role of fullerene nanoclusters as new form of carbon support.