Synthesis and Characterisation of Platinum Nanoparticles Supported Vulcan Carbon Based Conductive Bipolymeric Nanoparticles

ABSTRACT

The physical interactions of Platinum nanoparticles anchored on Vulcan® carbon XC – 72 (VC) over Nafion® - Polyethylene glycol - 6000 (PEG) polymer matrix nanocomposite were characterized by Fourier Transform – Infrared (FT-IR) spectra technique and surface morphology by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyses. The conductivity of the Pt nanoparticles embedded polymer nanocomposite membranes was measured using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and the ORR studies were investigated using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Linear Scan Voltammetry (LSV) under hydrodynamic conditions . The results show that VC over Nafion®-PEG polymer matrix nanocomposite exhibited a better improvement on their conductivity and comparable with neat Nafion® membranes hinting the possible use of the carbon over Nafion®-PEG matrix for improving the fuel cell efficiency for ORR with different Pt loading conditions.