Electrochemical restructuring of Gold electrodes with redox active species to create electrocatalytically active nanostructured surfaces

Electrochemical potential cycling of gold electrodes in commonly used redox active species to produce a nanostructured surface is introduced. A commercially available gold electrode when cycled in three redox active species including hexaammine ruthenium chloride, ferrocene methanol and ferricyanide shows rapid conversion of the surface into a nanostructured form within 50 cycles which usually requires hundreds of cycles in their absence. The active gold nanostructured electrode was characterized by cyclic voltammetry in acidic and alkaline electrolyte indicating the presence of different basal sites depending on the redox species employed. In addition, the active gold nanostructured surface shows higher electrocatalytic activity than the pristine polycrystalline gold electrode for glucose and ascorbic acid oxidation in alkaline media.