Chitosan: a green carbon source for the synthesis of graphitic nanocarbon, tungsten carbide and graphitic nanocarbon/tungsten carbide composites

In this paper, a simple approach was proposed to fabricate graphitic carbon nanocapsules, tungsten carbide and tungsten carbides/graphitic carbon composites by using chitosan, a green and renewable biopolymer, as a carbon source. The route includes, first, fabrication of the precursors that consist of chitosan coordinated with a certain metal ion (or metal complex anion) followed by carbonizing the precursors under N-2 atmosphere. The composition of the final products could be regulated by changing the type and ratio of the metal source (cations or complex anions) combined with the chitosan in the precursors. The experimental results showed that uniform carbon nanocapsules could be obtained when Ni2+ was introducing in the precursors, while incorporating [PW12O40](3)-(PW12) with chitosan led to the formation of WC nanoparticles. As the Ni2+ and PW12 are simultaneously coordinated with chitosan, the composites of tungsten carbide/graphitic carbon were successfully produced. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed that the graphitic carbon nanocapsules are about 45 nm in diameter; uniform WC nanoparticles with a average size of 40 nm are observed. Moreover, the particle size of WC in the tungsten carbide/graphitic carbon composite is about 10 nm, which is smaller than that of the pure WC particles. Furthermore, the performance of the sample-loaded Pt nanoparticles for methanol electro-oxidation was studied in detail. The results indicated that the samples could act as good carriers for Pt in the methanol electro-oxidation reaction with high effectivity and improved stability.