Electrospinning Synthesis and Electrocatalytic Performance of Cobalt oxide/Carbon Nanofibers Nanocomposite Based PVA for Fuel Cell Applications

This work concerns carbon nanofibers (CNF) as a material support to prepare nanocomposite electrode, and to use such electrode for fuel cell application. The nanocomposite electrode was produced by electrospinning mixtures of cobalt nitrate with aqueous solutions of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) followed by high-temperature annealing process. As a result, Cobalt oxide nanoparticles have been formed and incorporated within carbon nanofibers. Conductivity, capacitance and the electrocatalytic activities of the produced nanocomposite have been studied using cyclic voltammetry, and chronoamperometry. Produced materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and scanning-electron microscopy (SEM), which revealed that nanofibers in the range of 200–300 nm. The high conducting, and capacitance of the produced nanocomposite are related to the complete transfer of electrospun PVA fiber to active carbon nanofibers, and the presence of well dispersed Cobalt oxide nanoparticle, which lead to the enhancement of connectivity and the electrochemical utilization of pristine CNF during the charge/discharge process. On the other hand, the low electrocatalytic activity of the prepared electrodes towards methanol oxidation reaction can be attributed to the presence o