Issue 7, 2017

Kinetically controlled synthesis of nanoporous Au and its enhanced electrocatalytic activity for glucose-based biofuel cells

Abstract

Nanoporous gold (NPG) structures, which possess abundant high-index facets, kinks, and steps, have been demonstrated as effective catalysts for the glucose electrooxidation in biofuel cells. Herein, we designed surface-clean NPG structures with high-index facets by a trisodium citrate (Na3Cit) self-initiated reduction of chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) in a water–ice bath followed by a kinetically controlled self-assembly manner. This strategy breaks through the traditional trisodium citrate thermal-reducing chloroauric acid approach where solutions are required to heat to a certain temperature for the reaction to initiate. However, herein, the surface-clean NPG structures yielded highly enhanced catalytic activity in glucose electrooxidation with approximately 9 A cm−2 mg−1 current density, which is over 20 times higher than that of Au nanoparticles devised by Turkevich (Turkevich-Au NPs) under the same conditions. This remarkable electrocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the large electrochemically active surface area, clean surface, and high-index facets or highly active sites of the porous structure. The employment of the surface-clean NPG with high-index facets for glucose electrooxidation promises a substantial improvement in the current biofuel cell technology and indicates the potential of biofuel cells in practical applications.

Graphical abstract: Kinetically controlled synthesis of nanoporous Au and its enhanced electrocatalytic activity for glucose-based biofuel cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Oct 2016
Accepted
17 Jan 2017
First published
18 Jan 2017

Nanoscale, 2017,9, 2514-2520

Kinetically controlled synthesis of nanoporous Au and its enhanced electrocatalytic activity for glucose-based biofuel cells

M. Xu, Y. Sui, G. Xiao, X. Yang, Y. Wei and B. Zou, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 2514 DOI: 10.1039/C6NR08518K

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