Enhancement of electrodes modified by electrodeposited PEDOT‐nanowires with dispersed Pt nanoparticles for formic acid electro‐oxidation

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 134; no. 16; pp. np - n/a
• Main Authors: Ramírez, M. R. Andrés, del Valle, M. Angélica, Armijo, Francisco, Díaz, Fernando R., Angélica Pardo, M., Ortega, Eduardo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 20-04-2017
• Subjects: Acetonitrile; Electrodes; electropolymerization; formic acid; Insertion; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Nanowires; poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene); Polymers; Silicon dioxide; Voltammetry
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.44723

ABSTRACT
Preparation of electrodes modified with poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) nanowires, PEDOT‐nw, was optimized using nanoparticles of dispersed Pt, Pt‐np, to be tested for HCOOH electro‐oxidation. The PEDOT‐nw is electrosynthesized directly on the working electrode, using mesoporous silica as template, by cyclic voltammetry from a 0.01 mol L−1 monomer + 0.1 mol L−1 tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate solution in acetonitrile, on the Pt|PEDOT|mesoporous silica template previously modified electrodes. Using SEM, the presence of PEDOT nanowires with 20 to 25 nm in diameter was verified. In addition, its p‐doping response is about 500 times larger than that obtained on the bulk polymer, maintaining full reversibility of the process. The subsequent electrochemical insertion of Pt‐np and formation of Pt‐np with average diameter of about 20 nm, checked by TEM, demonstrated that the catalytic activity of this nanostructured electrode remarkably enhanced HCOOH electro‐oxidation. The obtained current is up to 2 orders of magnitude higher than previously reported in similar studies, using a much smaller amount of Pt and with a potential decrease greater than 100 mV. Thus, we have at our disposal a simple, inexpensive, and highly reproducible way to prepare in situ nanostructured electrodes using just electrochemical techniques, which can be useful on all the applications of these devices. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44723.