Electrocatalytically active nanocomposite from palladium nanoparticles and polyaniline: Oxidation of hydrazine

The layer by layer (LbL) adsorption technique was used to deposit a new electrocatalytic material consisting of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) and polyaniline (PANI). As far as PANI adsorption did not affect the reactivity of the Pd NPs attached in the former adsorption step, the LbL technique offered the way of increasing the reactive Pd surface within a three-dimensional nanocomposite structure. In situ conductance measurements have shown that depending on the concentration of the PANI solution, used for the LbL adsorption, composites with either PANI-like (dependent on potential and pH) or metal-like (non-dependent on potential and pH) conductive behaviour can be obtained. Metal-like Pd NPs–PANI nanocomposites were studied as electrocatalytic materials for hydrazine oxidation. A linear concentration dependence of the voltammetric peak currents was observed in the 40–800 μM hydrazine concentration range, the sensitivity increasing with the amount of adsorbed Pd NPs. Amperometric measurements showed linear response in the 10–300 μM range with sensitivity 0.5 μA/μmol cm−2 and a theoretical detection limit estimated to be 0.06 μM.