Platinum nanoparticle catalyst support technique by ion implantation and surface etching (IISE) method

Abstract

An ion implantation and surface etching (IISE) method to fabricate nanoparticles as a support catalyst was previously developed and applied to gold nanoparticles. Here, the IISE method was applied to fabricate platinum nanoparticles. First, platinum ions were implanted into a silicon substrate at an ion acceleration of 3.1 MeV, ion dose of 2 × 10 16 cm − 2 , and substrate temperature of 95 K, which are the same conditions previously used to fabricate gold nanoparticles. Then, the implanted substrate was etched for 10 or 30 min by using potassium hydroxide solution at 333 K. Regardless of etch time, uniform platinum nanoparticles about 5 to 20 nm in size were evident on the substrate surface (observed using scanning electron microscopy, SEM) at a density high enough for use as a catalyst, about 2000 μm − 2 . Relatively large cubic particles about 80 nm in size were also evident, but at a much lower density, about 5 μm − 2 . The IISE method is an easy fabrication/support technique for platinum nanoparticles.