Fabrication of nanoflower-like dendritic Au and polyaniline composite nanosheets at gas/liquid interface for electrocatalytic oxidation and sensing of ascorbic acid

We developed a facile one-step method to fabricate nanoflower-like dendritic Au and polyaniline composite nanosheets at gas/liquid interface by contact of HAuCl4 solution with aniline vapor for short time. Polymerization of aniline and reduction of HAuCl4 took place simultaneously at the interface, and the in situ formed interfacial polyaniline film confined the produced small Au nanoparticles (1-3 nm) and conducted the formation of nanoflower-like dendritic Au (20-50 nm). Notably, the Au-polyaniline nanosheet exhibited extremely high electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of ascorbic acid, and a promising electrochemical sensor of ascorbic acid was constructed based on it. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.