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Corresponding Author

Yu-jiang SONG(yjsong@dlut.edu.cn)

Abstract

Due to interesting size effect, physical and chemical properties, nano-scale gold materials have been commonly used to catalytic reactions. However, the application of gold nanomaterials in the field of electrocatalysis is limited. Herein, we report the synthesis of gold nanparticles supported on carbon through chemical reduction of HAuCl4 by NaBH4 under mild conditions in the presence of surfactants as soft templates, carbon black or graphene as a support. We investigated a series of key reaction parameters, including reagent concentration, temperature, the types of carbon supports and surfactants. With the optimum synthetic parameters, we successfully obtained supported 1 ~ 4 nm gold particles. In addition, we found that the heat treatment could effectively remove such a surfactant as Brij35. The purified electrocatalysts demonstrated electrocatalytic activities toward both oxygen reduction reaction and alcohol oxidation reaction.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

synthesis, supported gold nanoparticles, electrocatalysis

Publication Date

2016-04-28

Online Available Date

2016-03-25

Revised Date

2016-03-12

Received Date

2016-03-05

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