Tunable Decoration of Reduced Graphene Oxide with Au Nanoparticles for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films are decorated with non-overlapping Au nanoparticles using diblock copolymer micelles that provide controllability over the number density as well as the diameter of the nanoparticles. This synthetic process produces a pure Au surface without extra layers. Further­more, the rGO film enables the transferability of the Au nanoparticles without deterioration of their arrays. Thus, the controllability of the Au nanoparticles and their transferability with rGO films allow the effective modification of electrochemical electrodes. With a glassy carbon electrode modified with an rGO film with Au nanoparticles, high electrochemical activity is observed in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Furthermore, it is possible to identify a size-dependent ORR mechanism, showing that Au nanoparticles with an average diameter of 8.6 nm exhibit a 4-electron direct reduction of O2 to H2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]