A new method for the preparation of PtPd alloy single crystal surfaces

A new method for the preparation of PtPd single crystal alloy surfaces is described. Using the ‘forced deposition’ method followed by gentle flame annealing, it is demonstrated that well-defined epitaxial PtPd surface alloy films supported on Pt single crystal electrodes may be synthesised covering the whole range of surface alloy composition. The surfaces prepared by this method have been characterised by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in H2SO4 and also via copper underpotential deposition (Cu UPD). The most interesting facet of this new method is the ease of preparation of PtPd{h k l} alloy surfaces relative to analogues derived from bulk PtPd single crystals, although in this paper, only the characterisation of PtPd{1 1 0} is presented.