Controllable syngas production on gold nanowires/nickel foam electrode in non-aqueous system

A hierarchical electrode is prepared with Au nanowires grown on nickel foam. With large specific active surface area, it is used for producing syngas (H₂/CO) with controllable ratio, through electrochemical process in DMF. The synthetic innovation lies in the use of 3-cyanopropyltriethoxysilane, to achieve the adsorption of appropriate amount of Au seeds for the one-dimensional growth of ultrathin Au nanowires (d ≈ 5 nm). With the nanowires forest on the three-dimensional porous nickel foam substrate, syngas is produced by electro-catalysis with high overall Faradic efficiency and tunable H₂/CO ratios. This synthetic strategy opens a facile way to synthesize the hierarchical nanostructured materials, and broaden the choice of the catalysts for electrochemical applications.