In situ preparation and the characterization of Pt/SnO2

To enhance the cycling stability of Pt-based catalysts, the anti-corrosion property of support and the attachment of Pt with support should both get improved. For this purpose, a novel method is presented for in situ preparing Pt/SnO2. The structure of Pt/SnO2 is characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confirming the homogeneous deposition of Pt on SnO2. The high resolution TEM (HRTEM) shows the large interfaces between Pt and SnO2. The TEM photos recorded after accelerated durability tests with Pt/SnO2 show that the agglomeration and size increment of Pt particles is not severe, indicating the good stability of Pt/SnO2. The electrochemical active surface area (EAS) of Pt/SnO2 keeps increasing during the 1000 cycles of cyclic voltammetric (CV) sweeping in H2SO4, while the EAS decayed by 35% when mixing Pt/SnO2 with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), indicating the superior anti-corrosion property of SnO2 in contrast to CNTs.