Highly dispersed Ag nanoparticles on functional MWNT surfaces for methanol oxidation in alkaline solution

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles were electrocrystallized on 4-aminobenzene monolayer-grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) by a potential-step method. The structure and nature of the resulting Ag/MWNT composite were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), the results show that the electrochemically synthesized Ag nanoparticles were homogeneously dispersed and well-separated from one another on the modified MWNT surfaces. The electrocatalytic properties of the Ag/MWNT electrode for oxidation of methanol in alkaline solution have been investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), and excellent electrocatalytic activity was observed. This may be attributed to the small particle size of the silver particles. The results imply that the Ag/MWNT composites have a good application potential in fuel cells.