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Published online: 3 June 2009 | doi:10.1038/nchina.2009.120

Electrochemistry: Wrapped with ionic liquid

Anne Pichon

Introduction

© (2009) Wiley Interscience

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have high surface area, excellent chemical stability, and the ability to enhance the electron transfer rate of many redox reactions. They are therefore highly desirable as supports for the preparation of electrocatalysts.

Jinhua Chen and co-workers at Hunan University in Changsha¹ have developed an improved CNT support by modifying the surfaces of the CNTs with an ionic liquid polymer. The polymer introduces a high density of binding sites for metal nanoparticles, while causing less structural damage than conventional modification methods, which typically involve acid-oxidation pre-treatment. The functionalized support also develops electrostatic charge, which prevents aggregation of the nanotubes in aqueous solutions.

Platinum and ruthenium–platinum nanoparticles grown on the functionalized nanotubes are small and well dispersed. The resulting hybrid system has high surface area and good electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of methanol — characteristics that make the functionalized nanotube support promising for the fabrication of fuel cell catalysts.

The authors of this work are from:
State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, China.

Reference

1. Wu, B. et al. Functionalization of carbon nanotubes by an ionic-liquid polymer: dispersion of Pt and PtRu nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes and their electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. doi:10.1002/anie.200900899 (2009). | Article |