전기화학 소재로써 활용을 위한 다중벽 탄소나노튜브의 열처리에 관한 연구

Abstract

In the present investigation, multi-walled Carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was thermally treated by Potassium hydroxide (KOH) at different heat temperatures and times to adopt as the platinum supporting material for electrocatalysts. RAMAN spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to investigate the MWCNTs characteristic after heat treating activation process and showed MWCNTs can be successfully modified. After that, Platinum (Pt) deposition process was performed using microwave irradiation by colloidal method. The properties of Pt-MWCNTs were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), XRD and their electrochemical performance was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry(CV). According to the experimental findings of this work, MWCNTs can be successfully modified after activation by KOH, favoring the good dispersion of Pt nanoparticles with narrow size distribution and Pt-MWCNTs catalysts showed more favorable electrochemical performances. More precisely, the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) of Pt-MWCNTs is higher than commercial Pt-Carbon black and also commonly acid treated Pt-MWCNTs. Moreover, the heat treated Pt-MWCNTs was more durable than commercial Pt-C. It can be concluded that heat activation with KOH is an effective way to modify MWCNTs surface to adopt Platinum supporting materials with high ECSA, which makes them more suitable as electrocatalyst materials.