Potentiostatic electrodeposition of Pt on GC and on HOPG at low loadings: analysis of the deposition transients and the structure of Pt deposits

Metal electrodeposition has recently attracted renewed interest in the context of the design of tailored nanomaterials for various applications, such as, for example, fuel cells and sensors. This work is devoted to the investigation of the kinetics of potential-controlled deposition of Pt, at low (below 10 μg cm^-2) metal loadings, on non-porous carbon supports (glassy carbon and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite), from Pt (II) and Pt (IV) precursor complexes, and the structure and the morphology of the ensuing deposits. Comparison of the data of this work with the results of our earlier study [L.M. Plyasova, I.Yu. Molina, A.N. Gavrilov, S.V. Cherepanova, O.V. Cherstiouk, N.A. Rudina, E.R. Savinova, G.A. Tsirlina, Electrochim. Acta 51 (2006) 4477], where much higher metal loadings were produced, confirms the scalability of the microstructure with the thickness of deposits, the electrode potential being the key factor defining the geometry, the mutual orientation and the degree of coalescence of Pt nano-crystals.