Nanostructural characterization and catalytic analysis of hybridized platinum/phthalocyanine nanocomposites

Organic crystals, such as phthalocyanine nanocrystal, were successfully hybridized with Pt nanoparticles using a nanohybridization technique. The presence of highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles on the surface of phthalocyanine was confirmed by the combination of transmission electron microscopy and three-dimensional electron tomography. Catalytic activities of hybridized samples with different degrees of dispersions were also examined as oxygen reduction reactivity (ORR) with a linear potential sweep method. It was found that oxygen reduction activity increased with increasing Pt dispersion, and reasonably high ORR was observed on Pt-dispersed phthalocyanine nanocrystal even at 2 wt% Pt loading.