Technologically important noble metal oxidises more readily than expected.
Platinum, a noble metal, is oxidised more quickly than expected under conditions that are technologically relevant. This has emerged from a study jointly conducted by the DESY NanoLab and the Vienna University of Technology. Devices that contain platinum, such as the catalytic converters used to reduce exhaust emissions in cars, can suffer a loss in efficacy as a result of this reaction. The team around principal author Thomas Keller, from DESY and the University of Hamburg, is presenting its findings in the journal Solid State Ionics. The result is also a topic at the users’ meeting of DESY’s X-ray light sources with more than 1000 participants currently taking place in Hamburg.
“Platinum is an extremely important material in technological terms,” says Keller. “The conditions under which platinum undergoes oxidation have not yet been fully established. Examining those conditions is important for a large number of applications.”
The scientists studied a thin layer of platinum which had been applied to an yttria-stabilised zirconia crystal (YSZ crystal), the same combination that is used in the lambda sensor of automotive exhaust emission systems. The YSZ crystal is a so-called ion conductor, meaning that it conducts electrically charged atoms (ions), in this case oxygen ions. The vapour-deposited layer of platinum serves as an electrode. The lambda sensor measures the oxygen content of the exhaust fumes in the car and converts this into an electrical signal which in turn controls the combustion process electronically to minimize toxic exhausts.
>Read more on the DESY (PETRA III) website
Image: Electron microscope view into the interior of a platinum bubble. The cross-section was exposed with a focused ion beam. Below the hollow Pt bubble the angular YSZ crystal can be seen.
Credit: DESY, Satishkumar Kulkarni