Role of Catalytic Synthesis on Growth and Distribution of Platinum Nanoparticle on Carbon Nanotube Surface

Utilization of Pt/CNT nanohybride in development of PEMFC electrocatalyst is being studied extensively. In the current study, CNT-based electrocatalyst synthesis was carried out by chemical reduction using ethylene glycol as reducing agent to evaluate the regulation of the synthesis condition on Pt size distribution and the electrocatalytic performance. Role of nitrogen purge and ethylene glycol (EG) on the synthesis promotes a fairly good Pt distribution. Existence of water in the synthesis causes rapid growth of Pt nanoparticle forming some flocking particles on the CNT surface. Evaluation of Pt size distribution on functionalized MWCNT surface was performed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) as appropriate tool for direct visualization. The own-synthesis electrocatalyst using A-N2 synthesis condition exhibits good Pt architecture and electrochemical performance corresponding to eletrocatalytic active surface area (EAS). The whole analysis of electrocatalyst was evaluated in this paper.