Selective growth of Au nanoparticles on (111) facets of Cu2O microcrystals with an enhanced electrocatalytic property

The selective growth of Au nanoparticles on (111) facets of truncated octahedral and cuboctahedral Cu(2)O crystals has been achieved by exploiting the differences in the standard potential between AuCl(4)(-)/Au and Cu(2+)/Cu(2)O pairs and in surface energies between (111) and (100) planes. The density and size of Au nanoparticles can be controlled by tuning the concentration of the gold precursor. Truncated octahedral Cu(2)O-Au nanocomposites have a 10 times higher electrochemically catalytic activity toward H(2)O(2) reduction than do pure Cu(2)O crystals. The enhanced catalysis may be derived from the polarization of Au NPs at the interface, which makes Cu(2)O more active for H(2)O(2) reduction.