Effective Electrocatalysis Based on Ag₂O Nanowire Arrays Supported on a Copper Substrate

Silver oxide nanowire arrays (Ag2O NWAs) were first synthesized on a copper (Cu) rod by a simple and facile wet-chemistry approach without using any surfactants. The as-synthesized Ag2O NWA/Cu rod not only can be used as an integrated electrode (called a Ag2O NWA/CRIE) to detect hydrazine (HZ) but also can serve as the catalyst layer for a direct HZ fuel cell. The current density of HZ oxidation on Ag2O NWA (94.4 mA cm(-2)) is much bigger than that on a bare Cu rod (3.9 mA cm(-2)) at -0.6 V, and other Ag2O NWAs have the lowest onset potential (-0.85 V). This suggests that a Ag2O NWA integrated electrode has potential application in catalytic fields that contain the HZ fuel cell.