Fabrication of strawberry-like Au@CeO2 nanoparticles with enhanced catalytic activity by assembly of block copolymer composite micelles

Abstract

In this study, novel strawberry-like Au@CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated by assembly of block copolymer composite micelles via a redox reaction between Au(iii) and Ce(iii) followed by precipitation and calcination. These strawberry-like nanostructures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, UV-vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. These strawberry-like Au@CeO2 NPs were found to be composed of porous CeO2 and several Au NPs set in the surfaces of the porous CeO2 spheres. The catalytic degradation of methyl orange dye (MO) under ultrasonic irradiation was investigated. It was found that the activity of the strawberry-like Au@CeO2 NPs was substantially higher than that of their porous counterparts. The new strawberry-like nanostructures may have potential applications in catalysis and adsorption.