In this work, we present a method of obtaining of effective catalytic system composed of conducting polymer, poly(1,8-diaminocarbazole) (PDACz), with Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) of diameter 2 nm uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix. Reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NPh) by NaBH 4 with the use of this catalyst was studied by means of UV-Vis spectroscopy. It was shown that the catalytic reaction obeys either pseudo-zero-order or first-order kinetics, depending on the concentration of 4-NPh in the solution at excessive amount of borohydride. The catalytic activity of PDACz/AuNP system is discussed in terms of amount of deposited nanoparticles and the number of consecutive catalytic cycles. The kinetic data are correlated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the system before and after catalytic process.

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Non-covalent modification of graphene is one of the strategies used for enhancing its energy storage properties. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of a series of fullerene derivatives that are capable of assembly on graphene sheets by π–π stacking interactions. Newly synthesized graphene-fullerene hybrid nanomaterials were characterized using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. In order to determine the specific capacitance of obtained electrode materials galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements were performed. The obtained results allowed the determination of which fullerene core and type of substituent introduced on its surface can increase the capacitance of resulting electrode. Benefiting from introduced fullerene derivative molecules, graphene with naphthalene functionalized C70 fullerene showed specific capacitance enhanced by as much as 15% compared to the starting material.

Graphene functionalized with dianthracene malonate was synthesized and used subsequently for construction of covalently bound graphene-fullerene hybrid nanomaterials. For this purpose, novel approach of Diels–Alder reaction of C60/C70 fullerene cores with anthracene moieties previously introduced onto graphene surface was successfully employed. Structure and composition of obtained graphene and its derivatives were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and FT-IR spectroscopy. Obtained results revealed that both C60 and C70 fullerenes were found to be capable of formation desired Diels–Alder adducts, yielding products of different morphology. Capacitive properties of the synthesized energy storage nanomaterials were determined by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) measurements, revealing that functionalization of graphene with C60 moieties enhances its energy storage properties.