Porous Carbon-Supported Gold Nanoparticles for Oxygen Reduction Reaction: Effects of Nanoparticle Size

Porous carbon-supported gold nanoparticles of varied sizes were prepared using thiolate-capped molecular Au-25, Au-38, and Au-144 nanoclusters as, precursors. The organic capping ligands were removed by pyrolysis at controlled temperatures, resulting in good dispersion of gold nanoparticles within the porous carbons, although the nanoparticle sizes were somewhat larger than those of the respective nanocluster precursors. The resulting nanocomposites displayed apparent activity in the electroreduction of oxygen in alkaline solutions, which increased with decreasing nanoparticle dimensions. Among the series of samples tested, the nanocomposite prepared with Au25 nanoclusters displayed the best activity, as manifested by the positive onset potential at +0.95 V vs RHE, remarkable sustainable stability, and high numbers of electron transfer at (3.60-3.92) at potentials from +0.50 to +0.80 V. The performance is comparable to that of commercial 20 wt % Pt/C. The results demonstrated the unique feasibility of porous carbon-supported gold nanoparticles as high efficiency ORR catalysts.