Formation of amorphous Pt oxides: Characterization and their catalysis

Abstract

Amorphous Pt oxides (am-PtO x) were formed by the leaching of copper from a Cu 3 Pt alloy in concentrated HNO 3 at 323K for 12 h. The resulting am-PtO x was characterized using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermal analysis (TGDTA, TPD) and the BET method. This material had a high specific surface area with micropores (61.7m 2 /g) and decomposed to form Pt and O 2 at approximately 720 K. The catalytic performance of the am-PtO x during CO oxidation was superior to that of a conventional Pt black catalyst. This study demonstrated a novel method of preparing am-PtO x with applications as a catalyst.