Onset potentials

Passivation is manifested in a polarization curve (figure C2.8.4) dashed line) by a dramatic decrease in current at a particular onset potential (the passivation potential, density, is lowered by several orders of magnitude. 

The (photo)electrochemical behavior of p-InSe single-crystal vdW surface was studied in 0.5 M H2SO4 and 1.0 M NaOH solutions, in relation to the effect of surface steps on the crystal [183]. The pH-potential diagram was constructed, in order to examine the thermodynamic stability of the InSe crystals (Fig. 5.12). The mechanism of photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution in 0.5 M H2SO4 and the effect of Pt modification were discussed. A several hundred mV anodic shift of the photocurrent onset potential was observed by depositing Pt on the semiconductor electrode. 

Frequently it has been observed with n-type as well as with p-type electrodes in aqueous solutions that the onset potential of the pure photocurrent differs considerably from the flatband potential. The latter can be determined by capacity measurements in the dark as illustrated by the dashed line in the ij — Ub curve in Fig. 8 a. This effect is usually explained by recombination and trapping of minority carriers created by light excitation at the surface. It is obvious that these effects have a negative effect... 

Therefore, we arrive at the same conclusion for the mechanism of COad oxidation in the lower potential regime as for Pt-free Ru(OOOl), postulating that at potentials E < 0.55 V, only strongly bound OHad/Oad species are present in the mixed COad + OHad/Oad adlayer, which are not reactive towards CO2 formation, while for E > 0.55 V, additional, weakly adsorbed OHad/Oad species are formed, which can react with the (likewise destabilized) COad- Similar to COad oxidation on a Ru(OOOl) surface, the reaction starts by dissociative adsorption of H2O on the Ru(OOOl) surface (no shift in the onset potential). In this case, however, the Pt islands can accelerate the reaction by accepting the Hupd resulting from a homolytic dissociation process. Thus, we tentatively propose a mechanism for CO oxidation at potentials between the reaction onset up to the bending point (see also Lin et al. [1999]), which is... 

For the same reason, Ru(OOOl) modihcation by Pt monolayer islands results in a pronounced promotion of the CO oxidation reaction at potentials above 0.55 V, which on unmodified Ru(OOOl) electrodes proceeds only with very low reaction rates. The onset potential for the CO oxidation reaction, however, is not measurably affected by the presence of the Pt islands, indicating that they do not modify the inherent reactivity of the O/OH adlayer on the Ru sites adjacent to the Pt islands. At potentials between the onset potential and a bending point in the j-E curves, COad oxidation proceeds mainly by dissociative H2O formation/ OHad formation at the interface between the Ru(OOOl) substrate and Pt islands, and subsequent reaction between OHad and COad- The Pt islands promote homo-lytic H2O dissociation, and thus accelerate the reaction. At potentials anodic of the bending point, where the current increases steeply, H2O adsorption/OHad formation and COad oxidation are proposed to proceed on the Pt monolayer islands. The lower onset potential for CO oxidation in the presence of second-layer Pt islands compared with monolayer island-modified Ru(OOOl) is assigned to the stronger bonding of a double-layer Pt film (more facile OHad formation). 

Table 1 is the surface tension for four solvents and the calculated electrospray onset potentials for rc = 0.1 mm and d=40 mm. The surface of the solvent with the highest surface tension (H20) is the hardest to stretch into a cone and a jet and this leads to the highest value for the onset potential Von. 

Thin films of a composite nickel-iron (9 1 Ni/Fe ratio) and iron-free oxyhydroxides were deposited from metal nitrate solutions onto Ni foils by electroprecipitation at constant current density. A comparison of the cyclic voltammetry of such films in 1M KOH at room temperature (see Fig. 6) shows that the incorporation of iron in the lattice shifts the potentials associated formally with the Ni00H/Ni(0H)2 redox processes towards negative potentials, and decreases considerably the onset potential for oxygen evolution. The oxidation peak, as shown in the voltammo-gram, is much larger than the reduction counterpart, providing evidence that within the time scale of the cyclic voltammetry, a fraction of the nickel sites remains in the oxidized state at potentials more negative than the reduction peak. 

The onset potential of the hole transfer reaction is the potential E i at which the reaction current is zero (t = 0). Then, Eqns. 10-20 and 10-21 yield Eqn. 10-22 ... 

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