Electrochemical behaviour of electrodeposited nanostructured palladium+platinum films in 2 M H2SO4

Nanostructured palladium+platinum films were electrodeposited from an aqueous binary mixture that contained a non-ionic surfactant to produce a liquid crystalline phase. This phase acts as a template for the formation of mesoporous nanostructured films. The films produced were characterised by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy in order to assess the existence of a regular nanostructure. Furthermore, cyclic voltammetry in 2 M H2SO4 was used to obtain information about the electrochemical properties of the films. Here we report the existence of two unexpected very sharp peaks in the hydrogen region that were observed by cyclic voltammetry.