Characterization of nanostructured PbO2–PANi composite materials synthesized by combining electrochemical and chemical methods - IOPscience

摘要

Nanostructured PbO2–PANi composite materials were prepared by combining electrochemical and chemical methods. Firstly, PbO2 was deposited on a stainless steel substrate by pulsed current method and then obtained PbO2 electrode was immersed into acidic aniline solution to form nanostructured PbO2–PANi composites. The synthesized samples were characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol on those composites was evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization from 1.4 to 2.2 V versus Ag/AgCl/saturated KCl electrode. The adsorption of N–H group as well as the presence of benzoid and quinoid ring vibrations on IR-spectrum asserts that PANi coexisted with β-PbO2 which is evidenced by x-ray analysis. With increasing immersion times of the PbO2 electrode in the acidic aniline solution the electrocatalytic performance of the obtained PbO2–PANi composites for methanol oxidation was improved due to the formation of less closely knitted nano-sized PANi fibers, which was confirmed by surface morphology analysis.