Atomic Clusters of Pd and AuNPdM in Polyaniline

The previously described cyclic pathway method for deposition of atomic metals has been used to create Pd1-6 atomic clusters and Au1-5Pd1 and Au1-4Pd2 bimetallic atomic clusters in polyaniline (PANI). The controlled deposition of predetermined atomic size clusters of metals has been examined by testing the electrochemical oxidation of n-propanol in 1 M NaOH. The oxidation peak currents from the cyclic voltammograms were found to follow the same trend as the changes of the calculated HOMO-LUMO gap energies. The FTIR signature of PANI for these films also followed the calculated trend. This study also looks at the effects of atomic arrangement in the atomic structure on the support matrix of PANI. The results presented here have shown that the cyclic pathway is a versatile method for the atomic deposition of single metal, bimetallic, or even trimetallic atomic clusters in PANI.