Pt nanoparticles supported on Sb-doped SnO₂ porous structures: developments and issues

In this work, high surface area antimony doped tin oxide (Sb-SnO2) has been synthesized using a modified sol-gel synthesis method. The bulk and surface properties of the metal oxide support have been investigated as a function of the processing conditions. A change in the Sb-SnO2 processing conditions, while preserving an overall invariant bulk composition, led to substantial modification of the surface stoichiometry. Accelerated stability test protocols have shown that the surface composition represents a crucial parameter for the electrochemical stability of Sb-SnO2. Model Pt/Sb-SnO2 electrodes have been developed depositing Pt nanoparticles by magnetron sputtering on the optimized Sb-SnO2 porous surface. A significant enhancement in the corrosion stability upon 1000 potential cycles between 0.5 and 1.5 V (RHE) at 50 mV s(-1) has been observed for the Pt/Sb-SnO2 system compared to Pt/carbon.