Copper-Modified Gold Nanoparticles as Highly Selective Catalysts for Glycerol Electro-Oxidation in Alkaline Solution

• Main Authors: Thia, Larissa, Xie, Mingshi, Liu, Zhaolin, Ge, Xiaoming, Lu, Yizhong, Fong, Wenmei Eileen, Wang, Xin
• Other Authors: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Copper; Electrochemistry
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/84540; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41893
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The C3 selectivity of carbon-supported Au nanoparticles for glycerol electro-oxidation was significantly enhanced by the interaction of Au with electro-deposited Cu species. Notably, the C3 selectivity of supported Au nanoparticles doubled after 90 min of Cu electro-deposition at +0.015 V. This result was obtained if glycerol electro-oxidation was performed at +0.1 V for 2 h. The most selective catalysts contained an Au+ species that was generated by an interaction between Au and electro-deposited Cu2O. The presence of Au+ increased the selectivity to glycerate and tartronate and suppressed C−C bond cleavage to glycolate and formate simultaneously.