Electrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid by poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and Pt/Pd-functionalized carbon nanotubes mixtures.

Improving the catalytic activity of the anode catalyst is an important task in the direct formic acid fuel cell (DFAFC). In this study, the catalysts were prepared by dispersing either platinum or palladium metal on the surface of thiolated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (t-MWCNTs), denoted as t-MWCNT-Pt and t-MWCNT-Pd, respectively. These modified t-MWCNT and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) were ultrasonically mixed and loading on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for formic acid (FA) oxidation and the catalytic activities were then investigated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) methods. The as-formed catalysts were characterized by several methods. To optimize the catalytic performance, we investigated the catalysts separately and together (in different ratios) for FA oxidation. The PDDA mixed catalyst demonstrated a slightly better performance. These results indicated that the PDDA/(t-MWCNT-Pt + t-MWCNT-Pd) catalyst exhibited better activity than that of the corresponding other catalysts.