A Pt polymer composite of 20-49 volume percent powder/phenoxy based resin was prepared and applied to a cold rolled steel surface. The resulting films, which ranged in thickness from 8 to 30 microns, behaved electrochemically like pure platinum with large effective surface areas. A pretreatment with a high voltage corona discharge increased the effective surface area by 2-3 times. These results were used to elucidate the general mechanism of organic coating degradation as well as the effect of the corona discharge.
