Abstract
The quest of finding cheaper and better fuel cell catalyst materials has been long ongoing and remains a crucial step in making fuel cells a commercially viable technology. Platinum (Pt) is still the conventional catalyst used in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, however, with slow cathode kinetics and high material cost. Platinum-rare earth (RE) and lanthanide alloys have been found to greatly enhance the catalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR).1 Increases in ORR activity of up to one order of magnitude compared to pure platinum has been observed for these alloys, but high oxygen affinity of the RE alloying agents considerably complicates their synthesis. Sputter deposition into low vapor pressure liquid substrates, such as ionic liquids and certain polymers enables fabrication of clean nanoparticles, without the presence of air and other contaminates, making it a potential technique for Pt-RE nanoparticle synthesis.Here, we will present our recent work on magnetron sputtering of Pt 2 and Pt-alloys into different liquid substrates, including polyethylene glycol and three imidazolium-based ionic liquids. We have investigated the influence of substrate temperature on Pt nanoparticle growth during sputtering, and in post-sputtering heat treatment.2 We show that whilst substrate temperature influences the Pt nanoparticle size, the effect is not as great as for other materials. Better understanding the growth processes of Pt nanoparticles sputtered into liquids is an important step towards tunable sizes and catalytic activities of Pt-RE nanocatalysts. Escudero-Escribano, María, et al. "Tuning the activity of Pt alloy electrocatalysts by means of the lanthanide contraction." Science 352.6281 (2016): 73-76.Brown, Rosemary, et al. "Plasma-Induced Heating Effects on Platinum Nanoparticle Size During Sputter Deposition Synthesis in Polymer and Ionic Liquid Substrates." Langmuir 37.29 (2021): 8821-8828.
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