Fabrication of nanoflower-like dendritic Au and polyaniline composite nanosheets at gas/liquid interface for electrocatalytic oxidation and sensing of ascorbic acid

Abstract We developed a facile one-step method to fabricate nanoflower-like dendritic Au and polyaniline composite nanosheets at gas/liquid interface by contact of HAuCl 4 solution with aniline vapor for short time. Polymerization of aniline and reduction of HAuCl 4 took place simultaneously at the interface, and the in situ formed interfacial polyaniline film confined the produced small Au nanoparticles (1–3 nm) and conducted the formation of nanoflower-like dendritic Au (20–50 nm). Notably, the Au-polyaniline nanosheet exhibited extremely high electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of ascorbic acid, and a promising electrochemical sensor of ascorbic acid was constructed based on it.