Efficient amorphous platinum catalyst cluster growth on porous carbon: A combined molecular dynamics and experimental study

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 transmission electron microscopy experiments on high performance low Pt content (10 mu gpt cm(-2)) loaded fuel cell electrodes and provide a fundamental insight in the cluster growth mechanism. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.