Size-Controlled and Sintering-Resistant Sub-3 nm Pt Nanoparticles on Graphene by Temperature-Variation Atomic Layer Deposition

Hao Van Bui*, Sri Sharath Kulkarni, J. Ruud van Ommen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs), particularly platinum (Pt), are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis due to their exceptional activity. However, controlling their size and preventing sintering during synthesis remains a major challenge, especially when aiming for high dispersion and stability on supports such as graphene. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has emerged as a promising method to address these issues, yet conventional processes often lead to broad particle size distributions (PSDs). This work introduces a new approach for the deposition of size-controlled and sintering-resistant Pt NPs on graphene by atmospheric-pressure ALD using MeCpPtMe3and O2. In this approach, the deposition temperature varies in a cyclic manner in accordance with the Pt precursor and the O2exposure steps. In every ALD cycle, the MeCpPtMe3exposure is carried out at either 150 or 200 °C, and the O2exposure is at room temperature. The room-temperature step hinders the diffusion and coalescence of Pt NPs, resulting in significantly narrower PSDs compared to those achieved by the conventional ALD processes at 150 and 200 °C. Importantly, Pt NPs with narrower PSDs exhibit higher catalytic activity and improved stability, which are demonstrated for the propene oxidation reaction, despite having a significantly lower Pt loading. Our approach may open a new avenue toward the size-selection synthesis of noble metal NPs for catalytic applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)25658-25666
Number of pages9
JournalLangmuir
Volume41
Issue number37
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository as part of the Taverne amendment. More information about this copyright law amendment can be found at https://www.openaccess.nl. Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

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