Platinum plasma electrochemical deposition

Kim, S., Jung, Y. and Park, S.J. (2008). Preparation and electrochemical behaviors of platinum nanocluster catalysts deposited on plasma-treated carbon nanotube supports. Colloid. Surface A, 313, pp. 189-192. 

The preparation of film electrodes Prussian blue films are usually prepared by cycling an electrode in a freshly prepared solution containing iron(III) and hexacyanoferrate(III) ions [70-72]. As substrate, mostly platinum is used, sometimes glassy carbon [73] is used, and very frequently ITO electrodes [74] are used because the latter are very useful for electrochromism studies. Similar procedures using solutions containing metal ions and hexacyanoferrate(III) have been used to deposit cobalt hexacyanoferrate [75] and chromium hexacyanoferrate [76, 77]. Crumbliss et al. reported a plasma deposition of iron species from a plasma containing iron pentacarbonyl and ethane, followed by electrochemical derivatization of the deposited iron sites with the help of hexacyanoferrate solutions [78]. 

Thirdly, in order to improve the dispersion of platinum catalysts deposited on carbon materials, the effects of surface plasma treatment of carbon blacks (CBs) were investigated. The surface characteristics of the CBs were determined by fourier transformed-infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Boehm s titration method. The electrochemical properties of the plasma-treated CBs-supported Pt (Pt/CBs) catalysts were analyzed by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) experiments. From the results of FT-IR and acid-base values, N2-plasma treatment of the CBs at 300 W intensity led to a formation of a free radical on the CBs. The peak intensity increased with increase of the treatment time, due to the formation of new basic functional groups (such as C-N, C=N, -NHs, -NH, and =NH) by the free radical on the CBs. Accordingly, the basic values were enhanced by the basic functional groups. However, after a specific reaction time, Nz-plasma treatment could hardly influence on change of the surface functional groups of CBs, due to the disappearance of free radical. Consequently, it was found that optimal treatment time was 30 second for the best electro activity of Pt/CBs catalysts and the N2-plasma treated Pt/CBs possessed the better electrochemical properties than the pristine Pt/CBs. 

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