Visible-Light Illumination Assisted Ethanol Electrooxidation on AuNi/TNAs Electrocatalyst

Abstract

Gold deposits on Ni/TNAs and Ni/Ti were successfully prepared by displacement- reaction method. The result shows that the activity of all the catalysts for ethanol electrooxidation is improved by visible-light illumination and AuNi-40 min/TNAs exhibits the best long-time catalytic ability. The enhanced activity of the anodes catalyzing ethanol electrooxidation under illumination can be attributed to the plasmonic photocatalytic mechanism based on the excitation of Au, the assistant catalytic effects of TiO2and/or Ni and the improving conductivity of the substrate.