Electrochemical preparation of platinum nanocrystallites with size selectivity on basal plane oriented graphite surfaces

Platinum nanocrystals were deposited on basal plane oriented graphite surfaces from dilute (1.0 mM) PtCl62--containing electrolytes using a pulsed potentiostatic method. The deposition of platinum nanocrystals occurred via an instantaneous nucleation and diffusion-limited growth mechanism which resulted in narrow particle size distributions (relative standard deviation <35%) for mean crystallite diameters smaller than 40 Angstrom. The number of particles per unit area on these surfaces was 10(9)-10(10) cm(-2). Noncontact atomic force microscopy images reveal that platinum nanocrystals nucleated both at defect sites-such as step edges-and on apparently defect-free regions of the atomically smooth graphite basal plane. Using electron transparent graphite surfaces, selected area electron diffraction analyses revealed that the structure of deposited platinum nanocrystals was fcc with a lattice constant that was indistinguishable from bulk fcc platinum. Platinum nanocrystals were not epitaxially oriented on the graphite basal plane surface.