Synthesis of highly dispersed platinum particles on carbon nanotubes by an in situ vapor-phase method

Highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles were prepared on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) using a simple in situ vapor-phase method. The method consisted in two-step procedure in which an initial mixture of Pt precursor (Pt-acac) and f-MWCNTs was heated in a quartz tube reactor, first at 180 °C and then at 400 °C. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to follow the chemical and structural transformations of mixture components during heating steps. The functionalization of MWCNTs with HNO₃/H₂SO₄ solution resulted in formation of surface carbonyl groups. The FTIR-ATR and XRD results indicated that individual Pt-acac withstood heating at 180 °C, whereas it was dissociated when heated in contact with f-MWCNTs at the same temperature. Thus, the functional carbonyl groups were found to be responsible for assisted decomposition of Pt-acac at 180 °C. Since carbonyl groups served as reaction sites for decomposition of Pt-acac, the resulting particles were highly and homogeneously dispersed on the surface of MWCNTs even the relatively high metallic loading of 27 wt%. TEM observations revealed that crystalline Pt particles exhibit narrow size distribution with a mean size of 2.3 nm.