Platinum Particles Embedded into Nanowires of Polyaniline Doped With Poly(Acrylic Acid-co-Maleic Acid) as Electrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Polyaniline-poly(acrylic acid-co-maleic acid) (PANI-PAMA) with a nanowire network structure is prepared using a doping-dedoping-redoping route. Platinum (Pt) particles are deposited into PANI and PANI-PAMA nanowire network structures via a potentiostatic process to obtain PANI-Pt and PANI-PAMA-Pt composite electrodes, respectively. Functional group analysis is conducted using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and the morphology of PANI-PAMA is determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM images reveal that PANI-PAMA is composed of highly porous nanowires. The structures of PANI-Pt and PANI-PAMA-Pt composite electrodes are further characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron dispersive element analysis (EDS), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The EDS and AES results indicate that the Pt is dispersed uniformly in the PANI-PAMA matrix. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) results and chronopotentiometry measurements demonstrate that the electrocatalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation of the PANI-PAMA-Pt composite are higher than those of PANI-Pt.