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Synthesis, characterization and comparison of polythiophene–carbon nanocomposite materials as Pt electrocatalyst supports for fuel cell applications

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Abstract

A novel polymer–carbon (PTh–C) nanocomposites containing different percentages of polythiophene (10, 20 and 50% (w/w)) and carbon (Vulcan XC-72) was prepared by a facile solution dispersion method and used to support platinum nanoparticles. The effect of using different percentages of polythiophene in nanocomposites and subsequently prepared electrocatalysts was investigated. The resultant electrocatalysts were extensively characterized by physical (X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)) and electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry (CV)) techniques. The TEM results showed that the fine Pt nanoparticles prepared by ethylene glycol (EG) method were distributed on the surface of the 50% PTh–C nanocomposites successfully. From the XRD patterns, the average size of dispersed Pt nanoparticles with the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure on 50% PTh–C, 20% PTh–C, 10% PTh–C and carbon were about 4.9, 5.2, 5.4 and 6.1 nm, respectively. The conductivity of PTh–C with different percentages of pure PTh was compared with the conductivity of the corresponding support of pure PTh. It is observed that the conductivity of 50% PTh–C nanocomposites is about 600 times higher than that of pure PTh. Finally, CV measurements of hydrogen and methanol oxidations indicated that Pt/50% PTh–C had a higher electrochemical surface area and higher catalytic activity for methanol oxidation reaction compared to other electrocatalysts. These measurements showed that the Pt/50% PTh–C electrocatalyst by the value of 3.85 had higher \(I_{\mathrm{f}}/I_{\mathrm{b}}\) ratio with respect to Pt/10% PTh–C and Pt/20% PTh–C by the values of 2.66 and 2.0, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Nanotechnology Research Institute of Babol University for its scientific and financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Semnan University, Semnan, 35131-19111, Iran

    Mostafa Nasrollahzadeh & Mehdi Salehi

  2. Nanotechnology Research Institute, School of Chemical Engineering, Babol University of Technology, Babol, 47148-71167, Iran

    Mostafa Nasrollahzadeh & Mohsen Jahanshahi

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

    Maryam Yaldagard

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  1. Mostafa Nasrollahzadeh
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  2. Mohsen Jahanshahi
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  3. Maryam Yaldagard
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  4. Mehdi Salehi
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Correspondence to Maryam Yaldagard.

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Nasrollahzadeh, M., Jahanshahi, M., Yaldagard, M. et al. Synthesis, characterization and comparison of polythiophene–carbon nanocomposite materials as Pt electrocatalyst supports for fuel cell applications. Bull Mater Sci 41, 85 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-018-1599-x

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