Electrodeposition of Pt Nanoparticle Catalysts from H2Pt(OH)6 and Their Application in PEM Fuel Cells

We report the electrochemical deposition of Pt nanoparticles from platinic acid H-2[Pt(OH)(6)] using pulse potential deposition (PPD). We are able to control the size, morphology, and loading of platinum nanoparticles from H-2[Pt(OH)(6)] by controlling the deposition parameters such as the pH of the plating solution, the pulse potential, the pulse width, and the duty cycle of the pulse sequence. We show that a high density of Pt nanoparticles electrodeposited can be produced on both planar and nonplanar electrode supports with high surface area and high catalytic activity. Finally, we show that fuel cell electrodes can be produced using H-2[Pt(OH)(6)] as the source of Pt via our optimized PPD technique. The fuel cells produced from these electrodes are highly efficient with less than half the Pt content of commercially available fuel cells, which results in a gravimetric power more than twice that of fuel cells produced by using commercially available electrodes.