The Effects of Conducting Polymers on Formic Acid Oxidation at Pt Nanoparticles

Abstract The effects of polyaniline, polypyrrole, polyindole and polycarbazole on formic acid oxidation at Pt nanoparticles are compared. The observed trend in activity (polypyrrole   aniline > indole > carbazole), supporting previous evidence of electron donation from Pt nanoparticles into the π-system of a polycarbazole support layer. Density functional theory calculations on CO and carbazole binding to Pt 4 clusters show that the electronic effect of carbazole in a carbazole-Pt 4 -CO ensemble considerably weakens the binding of CO. The magnitude of this effect is comparable to the effects of graphite and graphene supports reported by other researchers, and stronger than the effect calculated here for indole.