Template-assisted fabrication of gold nanowire arrays for ethanol electro-oxidation.

Gold nanowires are considered a promising candidate in the area of electrocatalysis because of their extremely high surface-to-volume ratios and other special properties. In this paper, highly ordered gold nanowire arrays have been fabricated by direct electrodeposition utilizing highly ordered anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. The morphology and microstructure of AAO templates and gold nanowire arrays were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The results showed that the average diameter of gold nanowires was on the order of 80 nm, which was in accordance with the diameter of AAO pores. The electro-oxidation of ethanol on gold nanowire arrays in alkaline medium was measured by cyclic voltammetry. The results indicated that gold nanowire arrays showed excellent electrocatalytic activity and stability towards the electro-oxidation of ethanol, which made gold nanowire arrays an excellent electrocatalyst in the applications of direct ethanol fuel cell.