Compositional dependence of the stability of AuCu alloy nanoparticles

Abstract

The oxidation of AuCu nanoparticles was studied as a function of composition and temperature. Oxidation rates at 110 °C were higher for NPs with higher Cu content, showing that Au stabilized the Cu. Electrochemistry measurements show that AuCu could be a promising catalyst for lowering the over potential of CO(2) reduction.

Synergistic geometric and electronic effects for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide using gold–copper bimetallic nanoparticles

“…1c). The SPR peaks (l SPR ¼ 533 nm for Au 3 Cu, 539 nm for AuCu and 549 nm for AuCu 3 ) also match well with their composition 26,30 . Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was further used to confirm the composition of the nanoparticles ( Supplementary Fig.…”

“…Au and Cu nanoparticles in their pure phase exhibit characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks at B523 and B570 nm (refs 26,30,31). As the content of Cu increases in a pure Au nanoparticle by forming an alloy, the SPR peak of Au red-shifts towards the SPR peak of Cu with some broadening 26,30 (Fig. 1c).…”

“…The Au-Cu bimetallic system has been suggested as a potential CO 2 reduction catalyst in previous reports 25,26 . However, there has not been a systematic study to precisely understand its activity as function of its composition.…”

Copper nanoparticles stabilized by reduced graphene oxide for CO2 reduction reaction

“…Cu nanoparticles (NPs) could be beneficial in facilitating the CO 2 reduction reaction but their instability caused by combined effects of aggregation and rapid deactivation of the catalytic surface via oxidation has limited their consideration. One strategy recently proposed to overcome the stability issues was to use Au 2 Cu NPs that are less prone to oxidation instead Cu NPs for CO 2 reduction [18]. However, Au is expensive and also known to be a good catalyst for HER that can disrupt the production of hydrocarbons [19].…”

Flower-Like Au–CuO/Bi2WO6 Microsphere Catalysts: Synthesis, Characterization, and Their Catalytic Performances for CO Oxidation

“…The Au-Cu alloy catalysts are significantly more active than monometallic Cu and Au catalysts, because there is a synergistic interaction between Cu and Au, and Cu can facilitate the activation of molecular oxygen [23,24]. Zhang et al reported that Au-Cu alloy nanoparticles highly dispersed in the channels of SBA-15 are highly sintering-resistant even at high temperature treatment, and have much better catalytic performance than monometallic particles in catalytic CO oxidation, due to the synergistic effect between Au and Cu [25].…”