title: Composition-dependent electrocatalytic activity of AuPd alloy nanoparticles prepared via simultaneous sputter deposition into an ionic liquid.
abstract: Homogeneously alloyed bimetallic particles of AuPd with an average size of ca. 2 nm were successfully prepared by simultaneous sputter deposition of Au and Pd in an ionic liquid in the absence of any additional stabilizing agents. The chemical composition of the AuPd alloy was tunable depending on the area fraction of Au plates in the Au-Pd binary targets for sputtering. The particles were immobilized on an HOPG surface by heat treatment along with the increase in the average size of particles from ca. 2 nm to ca. 7 nm. Ionic liquid species adsorbed on the as-prepared AuPd nanoparticle films on HOPG caused the prevention of electrocatalytic reactions, but repetition of potential sweep cycling in a basic aqueous solution removed the adsorbed ionic species, resulting in electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol at the AuPd alloy nanoparticle-immobilized HOPG electrode. The electrocatalytic activity of AuPd nanoalloy particles varied upon changing the fraction of Au and Pd in the particles, and alloy particles having an Au fraction of ca. 0.61 exhibited the maximum activity against ethanol oxidation, being higher than the activity of the pure Pt surface.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Enokida
authors.forename: Ken-ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okazaki
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuwabata
authors.forename: Hisao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Torimoto