Electron promotion by surface functional groups of single wall carbon nanotubes to overlying metal particles in a fuel-cell catalyst

A remarkable promotion: Functional groups added onto single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can significantly influence the activity of a noble metal for formic acid oxidation. Phenolate groups on SWNTs under alkaline conditions can double the activity of 20 % w/w Pd compared to unmodified SWNTs. This catalyst has 14 times higher activity than the commercial benchmark catalyst (10 % w/w Pd on Vulcan).     

Formate as a Surface Probe for Ruthenium Nanoparticles in Solution 13C NMR Spectroscopy

Formic acid adsorption on ruthenium nanoparticles of different sizes allows differentiation of differently bound formate species by solution ¹³C NMR spectroscopy (see picture). The chemical shifts are comparable to those of organometallic analogues, thus indicating that formate can act as a probe to distinguish surface features of metallic nanoparticles in solution with good quantification and resolution.