Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of a new carbon nanocomposite electrode based on organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures

Organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures are successfully synthesized by incorporating 3,3,5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and palladium chloride (PdCl2) at room temperature. The general morphology of the product was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) which displayed Pd distributed in the TMB matrix. A novel nanocomposite electrode was constructed by incorporation of the as-prepared product into carbon ionic liquid electrode (CILE). After reduction of Pd(II) to Pd(0) during a negative reduction pulse; the electrocatalytic properties of the composite electrode were investigated towards oxygen reduction, hydrogen evolution and hydrazine oxidation all of which revealed strong electrocatalytic activities at room temperature. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.