Pt nanostructure electrodes pulse electrodeposited in PVP for electrochemical power sources

In this work, we demonstrated that Pt nanostructure electrodes could be obtained by the pulse electrodeposition method in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The nanocrystal particles were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction methods. The average size of Pt nanoparticles deposited in additive PVP with low and high molecular weight is 3.4 and 2.9 nm, respectively, whereas that of Pt electrodeposited without PVP is 360 nm. This means that the size of Pt nanoparticles can be controlled by PVP, resulting in an increased electrochemical surface area. The resulting Pt nanostructure electrodes showed such an improved performance for both direct methanol fuel cells and dye-sensitized solar cells.