Recovery of Active Surface Sites of Shape-Controlled Platinum Nanoparticles Contaminated with Halide Ions and Its Effect on Surface-Structure

The interaction of halide ions (I − , Br − , Cl − ) with well-cleaned faceted platinum (nanocube, cuboctahedral) nanoparticles and platinum polycrystalline is investigated in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte. Under electrochemical conditions, the Pt surface gets poisoned with halide ad-atoms and it causes the attenuation of both hydrogen adsorption/desorption in the lower potential region (0.06–0.4 V) and electroxidation of Pt nanoparticles in the higher potential region (0.6–1.2 V). Above certain concentration (5 × 10 −6 M), the strongly adsorbing I − ions mask the H upd features. On the other hand, Br − and Cl − ions alter the peak features in the H upd region, those are characteristic of different Pt surface sites. On excursion to higher potentials (∼>1.2 V), concurrent halogen evolution, Pt oxidation, and oxygen evolution are observed; the increase in peak intensity in the H upd region reflects the reconstruction of the Pt surface. To remove the adsorbed halide ions from the Pt surface, an in-situ potentiostatic method is employed, which involves holding the working electrode at ∼0.03 V in 0.1 M NaOH solution. The cleanliness and retention of surface-structure are confirmed from the voltammograms recorded in the test electrolyte and the recovery of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity after cleaning the Br − ion-contaminated Pt surface supports this conjecture.