High performance of hydrogen peroxide detection using Pt nanoparticles-dispersed carbon electrode prepared by pulsed arc plasma deposition.

We propose novel electrodes with platinum nanoparticles dispersed on a glassy carbon (Pt-NPs/GC) prepared using a pulsed arc plasma deposition (APD) method. The method could coat Pt-NPs on a base material directly with a single-step process in a very short deposition time. The characteristics of the electrodes were discussed in detail. The detection of hydrogen peroxide was performed as an example for application of the electrodes. The distribution of nanoparticles was controlled easily by the number of pulse. The surface morphology changed with the pulse number and the annealing except for the sample prepared by 5 pulses deposition (APD(5)), implying that the APD(5) remained as NPs after the annealing. Average particle size was 2.7 nm on the Pt-NPs/GC. Catalyst activity for oxidizing hydrogen peroxide per Pt loading was excellent on the Pt-NPs/GC. When the Pt-NPs/GC was used as a detector for hydrogen peroxide on a flow injection analysis, the Pt-NPs/GC showed high sensitivity without deterioration. Oxidation current increased linearly with the concentration of hydrogen peroxide from 10nM to 100 μM. This fast and easily prepared electrode showed the capability to replace a conventional bulk metal electrode.