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Improved fuel cell catalyst
Platinum-coated carbon nanorods for use in fuel cells
These are carbon nanorods on a silicon wafer grown by glancing angle deposition (GLAD). The Si substrate is oriented at 85° with respect to an electron beam source and continuously rotated at 40 rpm. Atomic shadowing during line-of-sight physical vapor deposition causes a competitive growth process which results here in vertically-oriented nanorods. The carbon nanorods are subsequently coated with platinum by DC magnetron sputtering. The carbon nanorods are 1500 nm in length. The Pt loading is 0.1 mg/cm2, and looks bright compared to the low-atomic number carbon and silicon in this secondary electron micrograph.
Credits: Michael Gasda
