Pt-decorated nanoporous gold for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions

Exploiting electrocatalysts with high activity for glucose oxidation is of central importance for practical applications such as glucose fuel cell. Pt-decorated nanoporous gold (NPG-Pt), created by depositing a thin layer of Pt on NPG surface, was proposed as an active electrode for glucose electrooxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions. The structure and surface properties of NPG-Pt were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The electrocatalytic activity toward glucose oxidation in neutral and alkaline solutions was evaluated, which was found to depend strongly on the surface structure of NPG-Pt. A direct glucose fuel cell (DGFC) was performed based on the novel membrane electrode materials. With a low precious metal load of less than 0.3 mg cm-2 Au and 60 μg cm-2 Pt in anode and commercial Pt/C in cathode, the performance of DGFC in alkaline is much better than that in neutral condition.