Controllable deposition of platinum nanoparticles on polyaniline-functionalized carbon nanotubes

We demonstrate a novel and very efficient interfacial polymerization method for the synthesis of high-quality polyaniline-wrapped carbon nanotubes (CNT-PANI), which represent a novel type of CNT-polymer heterostructure. The interfacial polymerization at the liquid-liquid interface is prone to form uniform core-shell CNT-PANI composites due to the presence of pi-pi interactions between PANI and CNT walls. Then electrocatalytically active platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) were loaded on the carbon nanotubes (CNT) through the introduction of electron-conducting PANI to bridge the Pt NPs and CNT walls with the presence of platinum-nitride (Pt-N) bonding and pi-pi bonding. The Pt NPs with controllable loading density were uniformly dispersed onto the CNT-PANI walls. The Pt/CNT-PANI hybrids possess exceptional electrochemical activity and exhibit excellent electrochemical stability towards methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction.