Reliable synthesis of block copolymer templated bimetallic nanoparticles

The development of cheaper and easier to manufacture direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) is an important step towards a methanol economy, and towards a reduced dependence on fossil fuels. Platinum plays a crucial role as a catalyst in DMFC devices but is expensive, is prone to CO poisoning, and suffers from other significant disadvantages when used as a monometallic catalyst. Block copolymers (BCP) offer an effective and accessible means of constructing thin layer multi-metallic catalysts with tunable nanomorphologies. While the loading of single metals onto BCPs has been proven, the ability to precisely load two or more metals at a desired ratio with a high degree of repeatability is of importance if this technol. is to make it to large scale manufg. Through the characterization of device arrays via XPS, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission and SEM (TEM and SEM) the Rider group hopes to build a standardized model for tuning metal ratios in bimetallic nanoparticles