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Oxygen reduction reaction features in neutral media on glassy carbon electrode functionalized by chemically prepared gold nanoparticles

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Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared by chemical route using four different protocols by varying reducer, stabilizing agent, and solvent mixture. The obtained AuNPs were characterized by transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), UV-visible, and zeta potential measurements. From these latter, surface charge densities σ were calculated to evidence the effect of the solvent mixture on AuNP stability. The AuNPs were then deposited onto glassy carbon (GC) electrodes by drop casting, and the resulting deposits were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in H2SO4 and field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM). The electrochemical kinetic parameters of the four different modified electrodes toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in neutral NaCl-NaHCO3 media (0.15 M/0.028 M, pH 7.4) were evaluated by rotating disk electrode voltammetry and subsequent Koutecky-Levich treatment. Contrary to what we previously obtained with electrodeposited AuNPs [Gotti et al., Electrochim. Acta 2014], the highest cathodic transfer coefficients β were not obtained on the smallest particles, highlighting the influence of the stabilizing ligand together with the deposit morphology on the ORR kinetics.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Pôle de Recherche et de l’Enseignement Supérieur (PRES) Toulouse and the Région Midi-Pyrénées for financial support, Dr. Teddy Hezard for his help in MATLAB programming, and Sandrine Desclaux for ζ potential measurements. DE thanks Dr. Martine Meireles and Dr. Yannick Hallez for helpful discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France

    Guillaume Gotti, David Evrard & Pierre Gros

  2. CNRS, Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, 31062, Toulouse, France

    Guillaume Gotti, David Evrard & Pierre Gros

  3. CNRS, LCC (Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination), 205 route de Narbonne, 31077, Toulouse, France

    Guillaume Gotti & Katia Fajerwerg

  4. Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, LCC, 31077, Toulouse, France

    Guillaume Gotti & Katia Fajerwerg

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  1. Guillaume Gotti
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  2. David Evrard
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  3. Katia Fajerwerg
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  4. Pierre Gros
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Correspondence to David Evrard.

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Gotti, G., Evrard, D., Fajerwerg, K. et al. Oxygen reduction reaction features in neutral media on glassy carbon electrode functionalized by chemically prepared gold nanoparticles. J Solid State Electrochem 20, 1539–1550 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3159-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3159-x

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