Platinum nanoparticles supported on graphite nanofibers (GNFs) were prepared bymicrowave assistant heating polyol process. TEM images showed that microwave prepared Ptnanoparticles supported on GNFs were small and uniform, and the average diameter was about 3.4nm. Cyclic voltammetric test showed that Pt/GNFs exhibited very high electrocatalytic activity formethanol oxidation.
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by catalytic chemical vapor deposition and using the alkali-reducing pretreated hydrogen storage alloy (MlNi4.0Co0.6Al0.4) powder as a catalyst. It was found that the surface modification of the alloy was effective to provide the catalytic active sites for CNTs growth. The Ni- and Co-clusters on the surface of the treated alloy were dominant for the growth of CNTs. The composite of CNTs with the hydrogen storage alloy has the potential to be used as a new type of hydrogen storage material without further purification.
Wei Xiang CHEN1*, Zhu De XU1, Jiang Ping TU2 Zhong Jian LIU1,Ya Xu JIN1, De Yi LV1, Xiao Nan LU3 1Department of Chemistry, 2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 3Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027
As a rapid uniform and efficient heating method, microwave irradiation has been widely used in chemical reaction and preparing nanomaterials. Here Pt/carbon nanotube(CNT) catalysts with w(Pt)=18.1% and 9.4 % were rapidly synthesized by microwave irradiation heating polyol process and employing the ethylene glycol solution of H 2PtCl 6 as the precursors in the presence of CNT support. TEM imaging showed that microwave-prepared Pt nanoparticles were very uniform in size, with an average size of 3.1 nm, and uniformly dispersed on the CNT surface. Electrochemical experiments demonstrated that microwave-synthesized Pt/CNT catalysts exhibited a higher catalytic activity for electrooxidation of liquid methanol than E-TEK Pt/C. The significant improvement in catalyst performance derives from that microwave-synthesized Pt nanoparticles have a uniform small particle size and uniforml dispersion on the CNT surface.
