Formation and electrochemical properties of ternary mesoporous carbon, coordination C60Pd polymer and palladium nanoparticle composites

This work describes the preparation and properties of composites based on spherical mesoporous carbon nanoparticles and fullerene-coordinated C60Pd polymer. The composite material was synthesized under a multistep chemical procedure. In the first step, mesoporous carbon nanoparticles were synthesized via a template-assisted method. Next, the C60 fullerene was incorporated into mesoporous carbon pores, and then the polymerization process was carried out in a solution containing a Pd(0) complex. The composite material is electroactive in the negative potential range due to the faradaic reduction process of C60 moieties. At less negative potentials, a high capacity current related to the presence of mesoporous carbon is observed. Under voltammetric conditions, this system exhibits a high capacitance equal to 359 F g-1 in the potential range of C60Pd reduction at 0.1 V s- 1. This value is 3 times higher than that of the pure polymeric material. Moreover, the composite system is more stable than pristine C60Pd. Capacitance retention, in this case, is approximately 30% higher than that of the C60Pd polymer after 6000 charging/discharging cycles at current density of 6.7 A g-1.