Facile synthesis and excellent catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles on graphene oxide

For the first time, Au nanoparticles on graphene oxide (GO-AuNPs) were successfully fabricated without applying any additional reductants, just by the redox reaction between AuCl(4)(-1) and GO. Their structure was characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction. The results show that flower-like AuNPs were successfully dispersed on GO surface. Importantly, they showed a high catalytic activity for the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction in an aqueous medium. (C) 2011 Na Na Zhang. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.