Surfactant-Template Preparation of Polyaniline Semi-Tubes for Oxygen Reduction

Nitrogen and metal doped nanocarbons derived from polyaniline (PANI) have been widely explored as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. In this work, we report surfactant-template synthesis of PANI nanostructures and the ORR electrocatalysts derived from them. By using cationic surfactant such as the cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template and the negatively charged persulfate ions as the oxidative agent to stimulate the aniline polymerization in the micelles of CTAB, PANI with a unique 1-D semi-tubular structure can be obtained. The semi-tubular structure can be maintained even after high-temperature treatment at 900 °C, which yields materials exhibiting promising ORR activity.