Electrochemically Grown Mesoporous Gold Film as High Surface Area Material for Electro-Oxidation of Alcohol in Alkaline Medium

We show here that, by using a simple template free electrodeposition process, it is possible to obtain a dense mesoporous gold film on a metal surface possessing good adhesion, large surface area, and mechanical integrity. The measured electrochemically active true surface area of the film prepared by this method is the highest reported to date for a mesoporous gold surface. The real surface area also increases with increasing time of deposition, showing its potential for scalability. The mesoporous surface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The surface characterization studies confirm the formation of porous film constituted of Au nanoparticles. We find, from the CV studies, that the mesoporous gold surface prepared using the method described here shows excellent catalytic activity for alcohol electro-oxidation in an alkaline medium.