The electrosynthesis of high surface area platinum films by templating with Brij ® 58 and their electrocatalytic properties for ethanol oxidation Afnan Alshammari 1,2 , Joanne Elliott 1 1 University of Reading, UK, 2 Jouf University, Saudi Arabia This study reports the preparation of high surface area platinum films via the electrodeposition route to be used as catalysts for ethanol oxidation in acid media. The preparation method was developed using a liquid crystal template of non-ionic surfactant of Brij ® 58 dissolved in aqueous hexachloroplatinic acid (HCPA) with a composition of 30% surfactant. First, the presence of HCPA in Brij ® 58 was investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The phase behaviour of 30% Brij ® 58 in water has been reported in the literature 1,2 . Interestingly in this study, the SAXS measurements revealed that the presence of HCPA in the Brij ® 58 system induced a hexagonal phase at 30% Brij ® 58 in addition to the original phase, face centered cubic. Second, the electrodeposition of the 30% Brij ® 58/HCPA template was carried out at platinum electrodes at selected deposition potentials varying from -0.15 to -0.25 V vs Ag/AgCl. Third, the modified platinum films were characterized electrochemically to determine the real surface area and by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate the surface morphology. The modified platinum films showed a variety of charge densities with high roughness factors (RF), comparable with other platinum nanostructures 3,4 and the SEM images show various morphological features depending on the deposition potential. Fourth, the modified platinum films with high RFs were used for ethanol oxidation. Differences in behaviour were observed for the electrocatalytic properties of these modified platinum films. These electrocatalysts could be applied for use in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC). References 1. Fall S., Pettier B., Benyamin L. and Gibaud A., Acta. Phys. Pol. A., 2012 , 121 , 2, 388-396. 2. Jayaraman A., Zhang D. Y., Dewing B. L. and Mahanthappa M. K., ACS Cent. Sci., 2019, 5 , 619-628.Elliott J. M., Attard G. S., Bartlett P. N., Coleman N. R., Merckel D. A. and Owen J. R., Chem. Mater ., 1999, 12, 11, 3602-3609. 3. Akbar S., Elliott J. M., Squires A. M. and Anwar A., J Nanopart Res , 2020, 6, 22 , 1-9.
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