Functionalised Copper Nanoparticles with Gold Nanoclusters Part I. Highly Selective Electrosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2): Part I. Highly Selective Electrosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)

Metal Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) and gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) show a high catalytic performance in generating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which are increasingly used to target pathogens that transmit infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi and viruses whilst they have been very promising as carbon-free energy carriers. Some combinations of NPs/NCs can generate synergistic effects to produce stronger antiseptics such as H2O2 or ROS (reactive oxygen species). Herein, we demonstrate a novel facile AuNCs surface decoration method on the surfaces of CuNPs using Galvanic displacement. The Cu-Au bimetallic NPs presented a high selective production of H2O2 via a two-electron (2e-) oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The physicochemical analysis by SEM, TEM, XRD and XPS indicate that the optimised Cu-Au1.5NP was characterized by structure and the particle size was 53.8 nm. Electrochemical analysis indicated that the pristine AuNCs exhibited the highest 2e- selectivity in ORR, and the CuNPs presented the weakest 2e- selectivity, and the optimised Cu-Au1.5NPs exhibit a high 2e- selectivity of 95% for H2O2 production, along with excellent catalytic activity and durability. The optimised Cu-Au1.5NPs demonstrated a novel pathway to balance the cost and catalytic performance through the appropriate combination of metal NPs/NCs.