Growth of and methanol electro-oxidation by gold nanowires with high density stacking faults

Gold nanowires (AuNWs) are considered an ideal candidate for applications in electrocatalysis due to their special chemical and physical properties. In this article, we report the synthesis of ultrathin AuNWs with high density stacking faults (HDSFs). The HDSF structure is suggested to be formed from the stacking of blocks into a wire with atomic steps which would produce inner stress leading to the emission of Shockley partial dislocations. AuNWs with a HDSF structure exhibit great catalytic activity for methanol electro-oxidation compared to polycrystalline Au nanoparticles (poly-AuNPs) and bulk Au in both acidic and alkaline solutions. Interestingly, cyclic voltammograms (CVs) of the AuNWs show higher current density in acidic media than in an alkaline one, which is attributed to the high activity of Au nanostructures to acid environment.