Electrocatalytic activity of silver modified gold film for glucose oxidation and its potential application to fuel cells

doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2006.09.013

Materials Letters

Volume 61, Issues 11–12, May 2007, Pages 2365-2367

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2006.09.013 Get rights and content

Abstract

The electrocatalytic activity of the submonolayer silver modified gold film electrodes for the glucose oxidation in alkaline solution and the influences of the electrode size, the glucose concentration and the supporting electrolyte concentration on the reaction were investigated using cyclic voltammetry. The performance of a fuel cell utilizing the glucose oxidation was also evaluated. Gold film electrodes of large size were prepared by evaporating gold onto micas. The submonolayer modification of gold electrodes by silver underpotential deposition resulted in about 0.1 V negative shift in peak potential and a little larger current in the glucose oxidation, and the peak current obtained was proportional to the electrode size and the glucose concentration. The oxidation peak was also affected by the supporting electrolyte, showing a positive shift in potential and a drop in current if a certain concentration of sodium hydroxide was not reached. The catalytic activity of the silver modified gold film electrodes was stable, and a certain power of electricity was obtained with a glucose–air fuel cell.

Introduction

Electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose has been investigated extensively in the field of biosensor because of its importance in the monitor of blood glucose [1], [2], and glucose biofuel cell is also a subject of increasing attention [3], [4]. In addition, it is attractive to develop glucose–air fuel cells with ordinary electrochemical methods. The reaction kinetics of the glucose oxidation on metal electrodes is known to be sensitive to the electrode material and the crystalline orientation of the electrode surface [5], [6]. Though being widely used for the electrocatalytic oxidation of small organic molecules, platinum electrodes exhibit serious self-poisoning in the glucose oxidation in alkaline solution [7]. On the other hand, gold electrodes show interesting electrocatalytic activity for the glucose oxidation with no observable self-poisoning [8], [9]. In our previous work, we investigated the glucose oxidation on gold single crystal electrodes modified with various metals and on the gold nanoparticle electrodes in alkaline solution, and it was shown that a submonolayer silver underpotential deposition on gold electrodes resulted in about 0.1 V negative shift in peak potential [10], [11], [12], [13]. In consideration of the limitation of the gold single crystal electrodes, i.e. the difficulties in the preparation of larger electrodes in both technical and economic standpoints, we investigated the glucose oxidation further with the gold film electrodes of large size. As a new attempt to develop fuel cells, we also evaluated a single glucose–air fuel cell assembled with the gold film electrodes. In this article, the preparation and the modification of the gold film electrodes, the glucose oxidation at the submonolayer silver underpotential deposited gold film electrodes, the influence of the glucose concentration and the electrode size as well as the supporting electrolyte on the glucose oxidation, and the performance of a single glucose–air fuel cell, were reported.

Section snippets

Experimental

Gold films of thickness about 100 nm were prepared by evaporating gold onto freshly cleaved micas at 350 °C with a certain deposition rate under pressure of about 1 × 10^− 4 Pa and then annealed for another 3 h.

Electrochemical measurements were conducted using a Potentiostat 2020 (Toho Technical Research Inc.) at room temperatures. The modification of the gold film electrodes (denoted as Au electrode) by the silver underpotential deposition was carried out in a sulfuric acid solution containing

Silver modified Au electrodes and the glucose oxidation

Various attempts were made by researchers to prepare gold film on mica that has crystal parameters close to (111) structure, but there was often no similarity among the published descriptions of the preparing procedures [14]. The temperature of the substrates, the evaporation rate of gold and the quality of micas are the main factors determining the quality of the films.

Fig. 1 shows cyclic voltammogram of a gold film electrode in sulfuric acid containing silver sulfate, which shows typical

Conclusions

Gold/mica film electrodes of large size were prepared and adatom modified with silver by underpotential deposition. The gold films have high quality (111) structure, and the silver modified gold film electrodes showed high electrocatalytic activity with 0.10 V negative shift in oxidation potential compared with the bare gold film electrodes for the glucose oxidation in alkaline solution. The peak current exhibited to be proportional to the electrode size and the glucose concentration. The

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Citation Excerpt :
Therefore, Au is considered to be a relatively stable catalyst for glucose oxidation. To further enhance the kinetics of glucose oxidation on Au in alkaline media, the Au surface may be modified or alloyed with other metals to form binary catalysts [17–19]. Aoun and coworkers [17,20] modified a single crystal Au (111) electrode via Ag underpotential deposition (Agupd) to form a binary Ag–Au catalyst.
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Electrocatalytic activity of silver modified gold film for glucose oxidation and its potential application to fuel cells

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Experimental

Silver modified Au electrodes and the glucose oxidation

Conclusions

Biosens. Bioelectron.

Biosens. Bioelectron.

Biosens. Bioelectron.

J. Electroanal. Chem.

J. Electroanal. Chem.

J. Electroanal. Chem.

J. Electroanal. Chem.

Electrochem. Commun.

J. Electroanal. Chem.