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Potentiostatic electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles: variation of electrocatalytic activity toward four targets

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Abstract

The unique electrochemical properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have made them solid choice for the preparation of electrochemical sensors or fuel cells. Electrodeposition is a promising technique to prepare supported AuNPs. The aim of this contribution is to explore the effect of deposition parameters on electrocatalytic activity of AuNPs. The potentiostatic electrodeposition of AuNPs on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) from acidic solution containing gold(III) chloride trihydrate was performed. The effect of deposition potential and deposition time on the morphology, and surface area of the ultimate AuNP-modified GCE (AuNPs/GCE) were studied in detail. It was found that the nucleation process of AuNPs was controlled by deposition potential while the particle growth process was mainly controlled by the deposition time. At the same time, the electrocatalytic activity of AuNPs/GCE toward the electrochemical oxidation or reduction of nitrite, ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, and p-nitrophenol was investigated. AuNPs/GCE demonstrated different variation trend with the alteration of the deposition parameters. These results provided a reference for the further application of AuNPs.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21775120), National Science Foundation of Shaanxi province (No. 2020JQ-886), and National Science Foundation of Shaanxi province for new young star of science and technology (No. 2018KJXX-090).

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Author notes

  1. Conghui Hou and Qiufen Luo contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecular Chemistry, Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710127, China

    Conghui Hou, Qiufen Luo & Hongfang Zhang

  2. School of Chemical Engineering, Xi’an University, Xi’an, 710065, China

    Yaping He

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  1. Conghui Hou
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  2. Qiufen Luo
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  3. Yaping He
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  4. Hongfang Zhang
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Correspondence to Hongfang Zhang.

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This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Electrodeposition.

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Hou, C., Luo, Q., He, Y. et al. Potentiostatic electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles: variation of electrocatalytic activity toward four targets. J Appl Electrochem 51, 1721–1730 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-021-01604-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-021-01604-7

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