Fabrication of polyaniline/SBA-15-supported platinum/cobalt nanocomposites as promising electrocatalyst for formic acid oxidation

In this paper, polyaniline/SBA-15 (PANI/SBA-15) nanocomposites were successfully synthesized as substrates for platinum–cobalt (PtCo) alloy. The PANI/SBA-15 was prepared via in situ emulsion polymerization, and PtCo nanocatalyst was fabricated through a simple electrodeposition method. Subsequently, the synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by SEM, FT-IR spectroscopy, and XRD techniques. The fabricated nanostructure (PtCo/PANI/SBA-15) was then employed as electrode for formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR). Several samples of PANI/SBA-15-supported PtCo electrocatalysts were synthesized by varying the Co precursor concentration in the electrodeposition solution. The PtCo 0.05/PANI/SBA-15 sample revealed outstanding electrocatalytic activity and stability for FAOR. Based on cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements, this electrocatalyst generated a maximum current density of about 63 mA cm −2 in the forward potential scan, which is highly desirable for FAOR improvement. Additionally, the PtCo 0.05/PANI/SBA-15 resulted in good performance in ethanol and methanol oxidation, indicating its capability of being applied in other fuel cell technologies. Graphic abstract