Effects of copper doping and electrolytic corrosion on the structure and catalytic performance of PtCu/C catalysts

Carbon-supported PtCu catalysts (PtCu/C) with different copper doping amounts were prepared by ion beam sputtering (IBS), followed by electrolytic corrosion. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) results indicated that Pt loading capacity and the atom ratio of copper and platinum decreased. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the elementary existence of platinum at the near surface. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that the catalysts formed Pt1Cu1 or Pt1Cu3 alloy. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) results showed PtCu/C catalysts featured pores surfaces, the number of pores and the surface roughness increased with the atom ratio of copper and platinum decreasing. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) results indicated that the hydrogen evolution catalytic performance of PtCu/C catalysts was improved remarkably by Cu doping and electrolytic corrosion.