Controllable Deposition of Alloy Clusters or Nanoparticles Catalysts on Carbon Surfaces

We describe a simple method for controllably depositing Pt-Ru alloy nanoparticles on carbon surfaces that is mediated by Pb or Cu adlayers undergoing underpotential deposition and stripping during Pt and Ru codeposition at diffusion-limiting currents. The amount of surface Pt atoms deposited largely reflects the number of potential cycles causing the deposition and stripping of the metal adlayer at underpotentials, the metal species used as a mediator, and the scan rate of the potential cycles. We employed electrochemical methanol oxidation to gain information on the catalyst's activities. The catalysts with large amounts of surface Pt atoms have relatively high methanol-oxidation activity. Catalysts prepared using this method enhance methanol-oxidation activity per electrode surface area, while maintaining catalytic activity per surface Pt atom; thus, the amount of Pt is reduced in comparison with conventional methanol-oxidation catalysts. The method is suitable for efficient synthesizing various bimetallic catalysts.