Apparent electrocatalysis on 3D nanoporous platinum film electroplated from hexagonal lyotropic liquid crystalline phase of Triton X-100

Electrocatalytic effect of nanoporous interface between platinum (Pt) and electrolyte was investigated in terms of direct electrochemical oxidation of glucose. A Pt film with 3D nanopores was electroplated from the hexagonal (H1) lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) phase of t-octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-100), a nonionic surfactant with a phenyl group in a hydrophobic tail. This Pt film, which was electroplated from H1-LLC of Triton X-100 (ePt-H1-TX100), comprised closely stacked crystalline (face centered cubic) nanoparticles (diameter, 4–7 nm) with 3D nanopores (width, 1–2 nm) developed among the particles. The ePt-H1-TX100 showed high surface roughness and selective enhancement of a sluggish redox reaction, that is, kinetic-controlled reaction such as glucose oxidation. Nonenzymatic glucose sensing can be achieved by using discriminatively enhanced sensitivity to glucose over redox active interfering molecules.