Metal Nanoparticles on Polymer Surfaces: 5. Catalytic Activity of Colloidal Platinum Films Incorporated in Polystyrene Surface Layer

The fundamental possibility to enlarge Pt nanoparticles in monolayer ensembles formed on polystyrene surfaces by the adsorption from hydrosol in solution of isopropanol and K2PtCl4 is demonstrated for the first time. The enlargement of “seeding” nanoparticles is performed after their preliminary incorporation (partial embedding) into the polymer surface layer by the annealing of a system within the range between “surface” and “bulk” glass transition temperatures of polystyrene. It is shown that a colloidal film of metallic platinum with a thickness up to 200 nm is formed in the course of enlargement and it is mechanically fixed in the polymer surface layer. Such a system exhibits, over a long time, high catalytic activity in the model reaction of methyl viologen reduction with hydrogen.