Enabling higher electrochemical activity of Pt nanoparticles uniformly coated on cubic titanium oxynitride by vertical forced-flow atomic layer deposition

Abstract Platinum nanoparticles are uniformly deposited by vertical forced-flow atomic layer deposition on conductive cubic titanium oxynitride (TiO x N 1-x ) nanoparticles with good conformity. The TiO x N 1-x nanoparticles are fabricated by nitridation of TiO 2 (P25) in flowing ammonia at 800 °C. The Pt loading produced by vertical forced-flow mode atomic layer deposition is higher than that deposited by horizontal-flow mode. Moreover, the Pt particle size can be precisely controlled by the cycle number of atomic layer deposition. The electrochemical activities are examined by cyclic voltammetry and oxygen reduction reaction. The Pt nanoparticles deposited on TiO x N 1-x with 30 cycles show higher electrochemical surface area and half-wave potential of oxygen reduction reaction than those of Pt prepared by conventional wet chemical reduction and commercial E-tek electrocatalyst.