Pt nanoparticles on vulcan XC-72R support (Pt/vulcan XC-72R) were prepared by the impregnation–reduction method. The Pt content, the morphological properties and the electrochemical catalysis of the Pt/vulcan XC 72R materials have been investigated by ICP-OES analysis, FESEM, TEM, and cyclic voltammetry. These materials were then used as catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction at the cathode of proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysers. The best catalyst was Pt/vulcan XC-72R prepared by the impregnation–reduction method which is conducted in two reducing steps with the reductants of sodium borohydride and ethylene glycol, respectively. The current density of PEM water electrolysers reached 1.0 A cm−2 when applying a voltage of 2.0 V at 25 °C.

The nano-gold layer formed on the platinum rotating disk electrode (nano-Au/Pt-RD) inherited the catalytic property for Cr(VI) reduction from platinum surface and owned the good features of nano-gold such as insensitivity with hydrogen ion, high surface area, augmenting diffusion of Cr(VI) and ability for self-assembling with 4-pyridine-ethanethiol (PET) through Au←S linkages, to form PET/nano-Au/Pt-RD electrode capable of accumulating Cr(VI) from sample. The obtained PET/ nano-Au/Pt-RD electrode showed an extreme sensitivity to Cr(VI). By using this electrode, 1.09 ng•L −1 was the detection limit of differential pulse adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry for Cr(VI) with the accumulation time of only 2 min. Moreover, this electrode was reproducible with 3.5% RSD for 30 times of Cr(VI) accumulating and stripping. In addition, this electrode was also selective for Cr(VI) determination, which was not almost interfered by other inorganic ions.

a b s t r a c tAn electro-deposition approach was established to incorporate the gold nano-flakes onto the glassy carbon electrode in electrochemical cells (nano-Au/GC/ECCs). Using pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) without any gold oxidation for cleaning (non-oxidative PAD), the nano-Au/GC/ECCs were able to maintain their activity for oxidizing of carbohydrates in a normal alkaline medium. The reproducibility of peak area was about 2 relative standard deviation (RSD,%) for 6 consecutive injections. A dynamic range of carbohydrates was obtained over a concentration range of 5-80 mg L À1 and the limits of detection (LOD) were of 2 mg L À1 for fructose and lactose and 1 mg L À1 for glucose and galactose. Moreover, the nano-Au/GC/ECC using the non-oxidative PAD was able to combine with the internal standard method for determination of lactose in fresh cow milk sample.