Preparation of three-dimensional composite of poly(N-acetylaniline) nanorods/platinum nanoclusters and electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

Preparation of nanocomposites of precious metal/conducting polymer is interested in studies of nanoscience and technology and in the fields of fuel cells applications. In this work, a 3D matrix of the novel nanocomposite on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was presented, which is consisted of nanorods of poly(N-acetylaniline) (nr-PAANI) and embedded platinum nanoclusters (nc-Pt). The nc-Pt/nr-PAANI nanocomposite was electrochemically in situ deposited in two steps: first, the nr-PAANI matrix was deposited on GCE by potential cycling between −0.2 and 1.0 V versus SCE; then, the nc-Pt was deposited on the nr-PAANI modified electrode by potential cycling between −0.2 and 0.8 V. The unique 3D structure of the nr-PAANI, nc-Pt and nc-Pt/nr-PAANI was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) and cyclic voltammetry techniques. The nanocomposite acted as a high efficient catalyst with enhanced anti-poisoning ability for the electrochemical oxidation of methanol in 0.5 M H2SO4. Based on our observations, a mechanism for the synergic effect of the poly(N-acetylaniline) (PAANI) in the nanocomposite was proposed.