Production of electrocatalytic hydrogen on pencil graphite electrode modified with conductive polymer/metal nanocomposite structures

In this study, the surface of the pencil graphite electrode has been modified with polyaniline (PAni) and polypyrrole (PPy) conducting polymers in the presence of the chitosan. The catalytic activities of the prepared electrodes for the electrolysis of the water were investigated by the electrochemical methods such as cyclic voltammetry, Tafel polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Then the composite structures modified by the Pt and Au nanostructured metals which have high catalytical activity and the catalytic performances compared by the same electrochemical methods. The structural properties of the obtained PAni–chitosan, PAni–chitosan/Au, PAni–chitosan/Pt, PPy–chitosan, PPy–chitosan/Au ve PPy–chitosan/Pt composites were investigated by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and infrared spectroscopy (IR) techniques. Furthermore, the stability tests of the as-prepared electrocatalysts were realized by the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA).