Synthesis of supported gold nanocatalysts and evaluation of catalytic activity towards alcohols electro-oxidation

• Grant number: 12/24982-4
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal researcher: Elisete Aparecida Batista
• Grantee: Ingrid Ribeiro Lopez
• Home Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Alcohols electro-oxidation reactions are very important in the area of fuel cells, as there is a great interest in the development of so-called Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells (DAFCs), in which alcohol is used directly as fuel.Nanoparticulate gold has shown a high catalytic activity for numerous reactions in the area of heterogeneous catalysis, however, in electrocatalysis there is no sufficient systematic studies to assess the importance of this metal in reactions of interest in the field of fuel cells.The synthesis of supported gold nanocatalysts is complicated, because gold tends to agglomerate, forming relatively large particles (above 10 nm).In this sense, we propose to study the synthesis of supported gold nanocatalysts that lead to obtaining nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution and homogeneously distributed on the support. Initially the methods of synthesis by microemulsion and in the presence of citrate will be testedThe materials will be prepared and characterized physically and electrochemicaly, catalytic activity will be evaluated towars the reactions of electro-oxidation of methanol and ethanol.