Abstract
Platinum dots were fabricated by using procedure that combines a phase separation step to form a porous polymer template followed by an electrochemical deposition step to produce Pt dots. First, the phase separation technique was used to form a thin porous polymer film of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) on a gold substrate using a solution that contained a volatile solvent, a less volatile non-solvent and a polymer. After the polymer template was formed on the substrate, electrochemical deposition through the polymer template was performed to fill the porous film with platinum. This was followed by the removal of the template by dissolution in acetone or N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP) to produce Pt dots.