Highly dense and uniformly dispersed platinum nanoparticles on poly(acrylic acid) modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes for methanol oxidation

Poly(acrylic acid) modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PAA-MWNTs) were synthesized through in situ radical polymerization in acetone and the PAA-MWNTs were used as supporting material for platinum nanoparticles. Platinum nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of PAA-MWNTs with high loading and high dispersion through ethylene glycol reduction. The size of Pt nanoparticles on PAA-MWNTs can be tuned by the water content in the reaction system and the loading amount can be adjusted by the mass ratio of H2PtCl6 to PAA-MWNTs. The electrocatalytic properties of the Pt/PAA-MWNTs catalyst were evaluated by methanol oxidation. The results of cyclic voltammetry show that the Pt/PAA-MWNTs composite possesses high electrocatalytic activity, good long-term stability and storage property, which can be attributed to the small particle size and high dispersion of Pt nanoparticles as well as the nature of MWNTs.