Can you oxidize gold using only oxygen?

I keep reading that gold does not react with oxygen, but I also see information about [gold Oxides (ie: aurous oxide, Au2O and auric oxide, Au2O3)](https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/gold-oxides#:%7E:text=Fulminating%20Gold-,Aurous%20Oxide%2C%20Au2O,moist%2C%20but%20greyish%20when%20dry.)


Knowing that there is a way of getting gold oxide using multiple steps and additional chemicals (ie. decomposing aurous chloride), is there a way of getting gold oxide without any intermediate steps? Can you produce gold oxide if you have a closed system with gold and oxygen and the ability to control the amount of energy in the system?




Actually, yes -- if you cheat a little by using atomic oxygen. [Ono and Cuenya[1]](https://doi.org/10.1021/jp711277u) report that combining gold nanoparticles with atomic oxygen at 150 K results on gold oxide formation, and the oxidized nanoparticles release the oxygen as $\ce{O2}$ upon heating. The authors further note that the nano-oxide is more stable on a silica support than on a titania support, suggesting a catalytic effect of the latter material.


This finding is relevant to electrochemical oxidation of water on gold anodes, where the electrode is oxidized by the oxygen atoms from water molecules prior to evolving $\ce{O2}$ [[2]](https://doi.org/10.1039/C3SC50301A).


**References**


1. Luis K. Ono and Beatriz Roldan Cuenya (2008). "Formation and Thermal Stability of Au2O3 on Gold Nanoparticles:  Size and Support Effects". *J. Phys. Chem. C*, **112**, 12, 4676–4686. <https://doi.org/10.1021/jp711277u>
2. Oscar Diaz-Morales, Federico Calle-Vallejo, Casper de Muncka and Marc T. M. Koper (2013). "Electrochemical water splitting by gold: evidence for an oxide decomposition mechanism".
*Chem. Sci.*, **4**, 2334-2343. <https://doi.org/10.1039/C3SC50301A>


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