Platinum Nanoparticle Inclusion into a Carbonized Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity: Electrochemical Characteristics of a Catalyst for Electroless Hydrogen Peroxide Production

Abstract

The one-step vacuum carbonization synthesis of a platinum nano-catalyst embedded in a microporous heterocarbon (Pt@cPIM) is demonstrated. A nitrogen-rich polymer of an intrinsic microporosity (PIM) precursor is impregnated with PtCl62− to give (after vacuum carbonization at 700 °C) a nitrogen-containing heterocarbon with embedded Pt nanoparticles of typically 1–4 nm diameter (with some particles up to 20 nm diameter). The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of this hybrid material is 518 m2 g−1 (with a cumulative pore volume of 1.1 cm3 g−1) consistent with the surface area of the corresponding platinum-free heterocarbon. In electrochemical experiments, the heterocarbon-embedded nano-platinum is observed as reactive towards hydrogen oxidation, but essentially non-reactive towards bigger molecules during methanol oxidation or during oxygen reduction. Therefore, oxygen reduction under electrochemical conditions is suggested to occur mainly via a 2-electron pathway on the outer carbon shell to give H2O2. Kinetic selectivity is confirmed in exploratory catalysis experiments in the presence of H2 gas (which is oxidized on Pt) and O2 gas (which is reduced on the heterocarbon surface) to result in the direct formation of H2O2.