Radiolysis of water in nanoporous gold.

Nanoporous gold was used as a high specific surface material to describe the water radiolysis in the vicinity of metal surfaces. Porous gold monoliths were prepared by electrolytic dissolution of silver in Au-Ag alloys and characterized by small angle neutron scattering. The hydroxyl radical production under gamma irradiation was measured by benzoate scavenging in water confined in 50 nm porous gold or in silica glasses of similar pore size, and in bulk water. Whereas a silica interface induces minimal modifications to the HO˙ radical production with respect to bulk water, HO˙ production near gold is enhanced more than seven times on the short time scale, and almost completely suppressed by reaction with the metal on the long time scale.