A study of Pt-alpha-Fe2O3 nanocomposites by XPS

alpha-Fe2O3 matrices were deposited on Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) substrates by Plasma Enhanced-Chemical Vapor Deposition (PE-CVD) from Fe(hfa)2TMEDA (hfa=1,1,1,5,5,5- hexafluoro-2,4-pentanedionate; TMEDA=N,N,N',N'-tetramethylethylenediamine). The obtained nanosystems were subsequently functionalized by platinum nanoparticles (NPs) via Radio Frequency (RF)-sputtering, exposing samples either to a pre- or post-sputtering thermal treatment at 650° C for one hour in air. Interestingly, Pt oxidation state in the final composite systems strongly depended on the adopted processing conditions. In this work, a detailed X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis was carried out in order to investigate the material chemical composition, with particular regard to the relative Pt(0)/Pt(II)/Pt(IV) content. The obtained results evidenced that, when annealing is performed prior to sputtering, only PtO and PtO2 are revealed in the final Pt/alpha-Fe2O3 nanocomposite. In a different way, annealing after sputtering results in the co-presence of Pt(0), Pt(II) and Pt(IV) species, the former arising from the thermal decomposition of PtO2 to metallic platinum.