Novel methodology for gold nanoparticles deposition on carbon monolith supports

•Gold nanoparticles are deposited onto carbon monoliths.•Gold is reduced by the own carbon material.•Two different materials are prepared with different gold concentrations.•Materials are characterized by different techniques XPS, ICP, SEM-EDX, FE-SEM.•Heat treatment led to changes in gold particle morphology.

This paper describes a new methodology for gold nanoparticle deposition onto honeycomb monoliths made exclusively of carbon. Gold nanoparticles were deposited by direct reduction of Au (III) compound by the carbon material in the actual support. Gold solution was forced to pass through the channels of the monolithic support in order to achieve a homogeneous deposition along the channels. After gold deposition, annealing was applied to the materials under a reduction atmosphere, in order to ensure that the gold was in an elemental state (Au0) and to achieve good anchoring to the support surface. Two materials with different average sizes for the deposited gold nanoparticles have been developed using this new methodology. These materials were characterized by means of different techniques: X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (particularly to monitor the chemical states of the gold during the annealing process), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscoscopy to control the amount and homogeneity of gold particle deposition along the channels and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy to determine particle size distribution and the area covered by gold.

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