Beneficial Promotion of Underpotentially Deposited Lead Adatoms on Gold Nanorods Toward Glucose Electrooxidation

Unquestionably, obtaining nanomaterials with high catalytic activity requires the control of their size, shape, and composition since such parameters greatly influence the properties of the electrode surface. In this study, three gold nanorods (GNRs) with different aspect ratios and surface crystallographic orientations were synthesized by wet chemical method. Underpotential deposition (UPD) is an electrochemical technique used with lead adatoms for revealing the low-Miller-index Au(hkl) facets of the as-prepared nanorods. As catalyst effectiveness strongly depends on the nanoparticle surface and the nature of the electrolyte, lead adatom-modified Au electrode materials were made to catalyze the glucose oxidation in alkaline medium in which it is more reactive. It was found that the glucose-to-gluconolactone oxidation peak shifted of 50 mV toward lower potentials, indicating a surface energy gain of the anode material due to the UPDPb modification.