High surface area nanoporous platinum: facile fabrication and electrocatalytic activity

In this paper, nanoporous platinum films with an enhanced surface area were obtained through a facile route by selective anodic dissolution of Cu from PtCu alloy. A homogeneous PtCu alloy was electrochemically deposited at a glassy carbon electrode at room temperature, then Cu was electrochemically etched from the PtCu alloy resulting in the fabrication of a nanoporous platinum film with a much higher surface area. The surface area of the dealloyed nanoporous platinum film was highly enhanced by up to 500 times compared with that of a polycrystalline platinum electrode. This nanoporous platinum film exhibited high stability and remarkable catalytic activity for oxygen electro-reduction and methanol electro-oxidation, with promising applications in fuel cells and biosensors, etc.