Platinum nanoparticles on the glassy carbon surface irradiated with argon ions

Glassy carbon (GC) substrates were irradiated with 380 keV Ar ions (Ar+) at fluences between 1.0 × 1013 and 1.0 × 1016 ions/cm2, and then heated at 400 °C in an N2 atmosphere for 1 h. Platinum nanoparticles were then deposited by a radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method on this GC surface. We investigated the influence of the GC substrate irradiated with Ar+ on the deposited Pt nanoparticles with diameters of 5 nm. Irradiation at 1.0 × 1016 ions/cm2 produced a maximum defect density in the GC substrate and left the graphite microcrystalline phase. Both the Pt 4f and C 1s X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data demonstrated that the Pt-carbon support interactions occurred at the interface between the Ar+-irradiated GC surface and Pt nanoparticles, confirming the significant effect of the Ar+ irradiation on the electronic properties of the Pt.