Electrocatalysis of Template-Electrosynthesized Cobalt-Porphyrin/Polyaniline Nanocomposite for Oxygen Reduction

Nanocomposite cobalt-porphyrin/polyaniline was one step-synthesized on a glassy carbon electrode in a solution containing aniline and cobalt-porphyrin, in which J-aggregates were assembled from cobalt-porphyrin and functioned as templates for polvaniline electropolymerization. The nanocomposite thus formed showed porous structures composed of nanorods that were 30 similar to 50 nm in diameter and about a 0.5 mu m in length. The nanocomposite -coated electrode was able to catalyze oxygen reduction with the number of electrons involved being close to 4. In 1 M HCl, the nanocomposite electrode performed comparably to a platinum disk electrode, demonstrating its potential as a non-novel metal electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction.