Oxygen evolution reaction transfer

Damjanovic, A., Birss, V. I. and Boudreaux, D. S. (1991) Electron transfer through thin anodic oxide films during the oxygen evolution reactions at Pt... 

Until now, the methodology available to study charge transfer reactions at soft interfaces has been rather mature, and studies in the field have shifted to the study of catalyzed reactions such as the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), or even oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Eor this, two classes of catalysts have been used (i) molecular catalysts and (ii) nanoparticle solid catalysts. These two approaches draw their inspiration from classical molecular catalysis and from electrocatalysis, respectively. 

The potentials for the onsets of anodic currents vary significantly (1.4 to 4.1 V vs. Ag/Ag+) for the non-aqueous electrolytes examined. The anodic currents appear to be caused by the decomposition of the organic solvent. As mentioned above, there are no differences of the potentials for the onsets of anodic currents between the diamond and the other carbon-based electrodes. Therefore, this decomposition does not appear to involve adsorbed intermediates, which are involved in the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions from aqueous electrolytes, but instead may involve outer-sphere one-electron transfers. 

Figure 10-30(c) applies to the photoexcited cell, where oxj en evolution proceeds via the anodic transfer of holes at the n-type anode and hydrogen evolution proceeds via the cathodic transfer of electrons at the p-type cathode. In order for the photoelectrolytic decomposition of water to proceed in such a cell, the edge level of the valence band sCy of n-type anode needs to be lower than the Fermi level tr(02ai20) of oxygen redox reaction and the edge level of the conduction band p c of p-type cathode needs to be higher than the Fermi level of... 

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