Carbon in α-platinum dioxide

Carbon in the form of hydrocarbons was found chemisorbed on alpha-PtO2. The sorption process, observed in the laboratory, occurs readily in the absence of a deliberate source, and it is faster on thin sputtered films as compared with powder samples. Carbon present in alpha-PtO2 is tenaciously held, and it has the effect of lowering the decomposition temperature of the pure oxide. The decomposition proceeds without the formation of intermediate oxidation species of platinum to yield carbon dioxide and the metal. An intercalated carbon species in platinum oxide, initially suspected, was not formed in the course of this study, but it would be an interesting material if a synthetic pathway could be found for such an oxide, predicted by theory to be a metallic conductor.