Poly (5-aminoindole)–modified TiO2NTs nanocomposites supported palladium as an anode catalyst for enhanced electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol

ABSTRACT The exploitation of highly active, durable, low-cost electrocatalysts is urgent for the large-scale commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Herein, we report a facile method for developing Titanium/Titanium dioxide nanotubes/ Poly (5-aminoindole)/Palladium (Ti/TiO2NTs/PAIn/Pd) as an anode catalyst for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The prepared Ti/TiO2NTs/PAIn/Pd electrode exhibits great electrocatalytic activity and remarkable durability in alkaline media for the MOR. There distinctive characteristics are due to multibranched unique nanoarchitecture of the Pd nanoflowers and excellent catalytic property of the Ti/TiO2NTs/PAIn nanocomposites as new supporting materials. The incorporation of PAIn within TiO2NTs matrix as fuel cell catalyst supports significantly enhances the electrocatalytic activity and stability toward MOR. The electrocatalytic mass activity of the Ti/TiO2NTs/PAIn/Pd is 6.38 and 6.08 times higher than commercial Pd black and Pt black. The facile synthetic approach provides a new strategy to design low-cost, high-performance electrocatalysts, and excellent MOR support materials for fuel cell applications.