Abstract
Faceting and nanostructuring of polycrystalline Au electrodes by cathodic corrosion in concentrated aqueous alkali metal hydroxide electrolytes have been studied systematically. Scanning electron micrographs show the formation of octahedral Au nanocrystals and triangular pits by using NaOH and KOH solutions, respectively. These Au surfaces with preferential (111)-texture and a unique nanostructure are of special interest for new developments and applications in electrocatalysis and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Cathodic corrosion of Au leads to a single-crystal-like electrochemical behavior with characteristic features of Au(111) electrodes. The electrocatalytic behavior of this new type of nanostructures will be presented for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and for the formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR). The Raman activity of adsorbed pyridine on the nanostructured Au electrodes was studied with SERS. While untreated polycrystalline Au is not SERS-active, the use of cathodic corrosion opens up a way for in-situ SERS-applications in electrochemistry. Figure 1
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