Gold Nanofiber-Based Electrodes for Plasmon-Enhanced Electrocatalysis

作者：Chen Dayi; Zhang Ran; Wang Ren; Dal Negro Luca; Minteer Shelley D^*

来源：Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2016, 163(14): H1132-H1135.

DOI：10.1149/2.0501614jes

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the research of plasmonic effects in catalysis motivated by the enhanced surface reactivity that can be achieved using resonant optical fields confined on the nanoscale. However, these plasmonic materials have not been extended to electrocatalysis applications. In this paper, we demonstrate the fabrication, modeling and characterization of gold (Au) nanofiber-based electrodes for plasmonic enhanced electrocatalysis of ethanol and methanol in alkaline media. By combining light scattering and electrochemical measurements with computational electromagnetic field design, we show that the resonant excitations of plasmon modes in Au nanofibers can significantly increase the activity of electrocatalytic reactions at electrode surfaces by preventing their passivation. In particular, our results demonstrate higher performance and stability of the alcohol electrocatalysts in sodium hydroxide solutions. The fabrication of "plasmonic electrodes" using the facile, inexpensive and environmentally friendly electrospinning technology provides unique opportunities to engineer novel light-enhanced electrodes over large surface areas for applications to fuel cells, electrofuels, and other electrolysis systems.

• 出版日期2016