Spatially electrodeposited platinum in polyaniline doped with poly(styrene sulfonic acid) for methanol oxidation

Polyaniline (PANI) can be doped with poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS) via doping–dedoping–redoping process. The specific characteristics of PANI doped with PSS (PANI-PSS) were checked by UV–vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). PANI-PSS was found to have spatial structure with minimum degradation products. Platinum can be potentiostatically deposited in a spatial layer of the PANI-PSS as evidenced by electron dispersive element analysis (EDS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The electrochemical measurements demonstrated that PANI-PSS-Pt exhibited a much higher electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation than PANI-Pt.