Bamboo-shaped carbon nanotubes which were synthesized through chemical vapor deposition by using cresol as the carbon source, were explored as Pt catalyst support in comparison with conventional carbon nanotubes and Vulcan XC carbon blacks. The pyrolysis of cresol produced a large amount of pentagon defects introduced in the walls of bamboo-shaped nanotubes, which could possess higher chemical activity and stronger interaction with metal particles. After a mild purification, the bamboo-shaped nanotubes exhibited more oxygen-containing functional groups than carbon nanotubes, as shown by Fourier transform infrared spectra and cyclic voltammetry. The formed oxygen-containing functional groups as well as the pentagon defects could act as uniform active sites for metal particle loading. By ethylene glycol reduction, highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution of 2-3 nm were easily supported on bamboo-shaped nanotubes, as shown by transmission electron microscopy. The Pt/bamboo-nanotube catalyst showed higher electro-catalytic activity on the methanol oxidation than the Pt/carbon-nanotube and Pt/Vulcan XC catalyst, which could be largely ascribed to the highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles due to the introduced pentagon defects in the tube-walls (comparing with Pt/carbon-nanotube and the graphitic nanotube network that could provide good electron conduction (compared with Pt/Vulcan XC)

Highly Dispersed Pt Nanoparticles by Pentagon Defects Introduced in Bamboo-Shaped Carbon Nanotube Support and Their Enhanced Catalytic Activity on Methanol Oxidation. L.Gan, R.Lv, H.Du, B.Li, F.Kang: Carbon, 2009, 47[7], 1833-40