Exploration of active sites of ethyl alcohol electro-oxidation on porous gold nanoparticles with enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Novel porous gold nanospheres are prepared by calcination of the gold–urea complexes. The enhanced Raman spectra of ethanol catalyzed by different doses of porous gold nanospheres are measured with a 532 nm laser as the excitation source, and an enhanced charge coupled device served in spectral detection and microscopic imaging. The electrochemical experiments show that the catalytic oxidation products of ethanol with porous gold nanoparticles are acetaldehyde, acetic acid, and water, which further proved that the porous gold nanoparticles can activate the –CH(2) of ethanol.