Electrodeposited noble metal particles in polyelectrolyte multilayer matrix as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction studied using SECM.

Taking the advantage of the stability and penetrability of polyelectrolyte films formed by layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition, noble metal particles of Pd and Pt were fabricated in a preformed polyeletrolyte multilayer film by galvanic deposition. The metal deposition occurred as metal particles and they were tested for their properties as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the morphology of the particle films. The noble metal particles were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with respect to oxygen reduction. The results show that the electrocatalytic properties of the Pd particle film can be adjusted by the electrodeposition time. The hydrogen peroxide formed as an intermediate during electroreduction of dioxygen was conveniently measured in the SECM using the substrate-generation/tip-collection mode. The relevance of the main reduction pathways could be extracted from fitting the current transients to an analytical model.