Metallic Mesoporous Nanocomposites for Electrocatalysis

Abstract

We describe the fabrication, characterization, and applications of ultrathin, free-standing mesoporous metal membranes uniformly decorated with catalytically active nanoparticles. Platinum-plated nanoporous gold leaf (Pt-NPG) made by confining a plating reaction to occur within the pores of dealloyed silver/gold leaf is 100 nm thick and contains an extremely high, uniform dispersion of 3 nm diameter catalytic particles. This nanostructured composite holds promise as a prototypical member of a new class of fuel cell electrodes, showing good electrocatalytic performance at low platinum loading (less than 0.05 mg cm-2), while also maintaining long-term stability against coarsening and aggregation of catalytic nanoparticles.