Elaboration and characterizations of platinum nanoparticles supported on cellulose - based carbon aerogel

Abstract. This work investigates the deposition of Pt nanoparticles onto carbon aerogels (CA), derived from microcrystalline cellulose. Nanoparticles are synthesised via impregnating the CA with H2PtCl6 followed by reduction either under H2 at 300 C or in a basic NaBH4 solution. H2 reduction yields uniform Pt nanoparticles (average diameter < 2nm) dispersed over the CA surface as revealed by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Larger agglomerates can be seen in TEM images of NaBH4 reduced samples, which is confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). A rotating disk electrode was employed to analyse the electrochemical properties of the Pt nanoparticles. The active area of the platinum nanoparticles was evaluated using hydrogen adsorption/desorption cyclic voltammetry and CO stripping measurements. The oxygen reduction reaction was also studied to (i) obtain the kinetic parameters of oxygen reduction for the Pt/CA materials and (ii) compare them with commercial Pt/Carbon Black.