Efficient amorphous platinum catalyst cluster growth on porous carbon: A combined Molecular Dynamics and experimental study

Lu Xie (1) , Pascal Brault (1) , Christophe Coutanceau (2) , Jean-Marc Bauchire (1) , Amaël Caillard (1) , Steve Baranton (2) , Johannes Berndt (1) , Erik Neyts (3)

1 GREMI - Groupe de recherches sur l'énergétique des milieux ionisés
2 IC2MP [Poitiers] - Institut de chimie des milieux et matériaux de Poitiers [UMR 7285]
3 Department of Chemistry

Amorphous platinum clusters supported on porous carbon have been envisaged for high-performance fuel cell electrodes. For this application, it is crucial to control the morphology of the Pt layer and the Pt - substrate interaction to maximize activity and stability. We thus investigate the morphology evolution during Pt cluster growth on a porous carbon substrate employing atomic scale molecular dynamics simulations. The simulations are based on the Pt-C interaction potential using parameters derived from Density Functional Theory and are found to yield a Pt cluster morphology similar to that observed in low loaded fuel cell electrodes prepared by plasma sputtering. Moreover, the simulations show amorphous Pt cluster growth in agreement with X-ray diffraction and Transmisson Electron Microscopy experiments on high performance low Pt content (10µgPt cm-2) loaded fuel cell electrodes and provide a fundamental insight in the cluster growth mechanism.

Mots clés: Molecular dynamics; Plasma sputtering deposition; Cluster growth; Pt catalyst; Fuel cell electrodes

Domaines: Plasmas

Lu Xie, Pascal Brault, Christophe Coutanceau, Jean-Marc Bauchire, Amaël Caillard, et al.. Efficient amorphous platinum catalyst cluster growth on porous carbon: A combined Molecular Dynamics and experimental study. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2015, 162, pp.21-26. ⟨10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.06.032⟩. ⟨hal-01016051⟩