Preparation of gold catalysts for glucose oxidation by incipient wetness

The preparation of gold catalysts for liquid-phase glucose oxidation by the incipient wetness method was investigated. It could be shown that this preparation method is a good alternative to preparation with deposition–precipitation. TEM analysis revealed that it is possible to prepare small gold particles with particle size <2 nm by incipient wetness, even at high gold loadings. In glucose oxidation, the catalysts are very similar in terms of activity, selectivity and long-term stability to those prepared by deposition–precipitation with urea as the precipitation agent. From ecological and economical standpoints, the incipient wetness method has some advantages over the DP urea method.