title: Modular construction of size-selected multiple-core Pt-TiO₂ nanoclusters for electro-catalysis.
abstract: Size-selected binary platinum-titanium dioxide (Pt-TiO2) clusters have been generated using a magnetron sputtering gas condensation cluster source and imaged using a Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) in High Angle Annular Dark Field (HAADF) mode. The core-shell clusters exhibit a Pt core of preferred size 30 ± 6 atoms (1 nm), embedded in an oxidised Ti shell, independent of the overall cluster size (varied between 2 nm and 5 nm). Smaller clusters, with mass ≤50 000 Daltons, show a single Pt core while larger clusters, ≥55 000 Daltons, feature multiple Pt cores, either isolated or aggregated within the TiO2 shell. These clusters may have applications in solar hydrogen production; preliminary work indicates catalytic active in the hydrogen evolution reaction.
authors.affiliation: Nanoscale Physics Research Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. R.E.Palmer@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Caroline E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Blackmore
authors.forename: Neil V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Palmer