Surface electrocatalysis

In this chapter, we will consider electrocatalytic processes. It is not the intention to provide a complete description of surface electrocatalysis but rather to show how catalytic processes at electrode surfaces can be understood in much the same terms as other surface-catalyzed chemical processes. In particular, we will show that free energy diagrams, scaling relations, and activity maps are tools that are just as useful to analyze trends in electrocatalytic processes as for other heterogeneous catalytic processes. 

Fundamental Concepts in Heterogeneous Catalysis, First Edition. Jens K. N0rskov, Felix Studt, Frank Abild-Pedersen and Thomas BUgaard. 

FIGURE 11.1 Illustration of the function of a semiconductor-based solar water splitting device. 

Finding good electrocatalysts is therefore one of the core challenges in solar fuel production. 

Before getting to the description of trends in electrocatalytic activity, we will discuss the features of surface electrocatalysis that are different from ordinary gas-phase heterogeneous catalysis. 

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R. Keita and L. Nadjo, Activation of electrode surfaces, electrocatalysis of the photoelectrochemical interaction of hydrogen at p-type Si, J. Electroanal. Chem. 199, 229, 1986. 

Yeager, E. (1976). Mechanism of electrochemical reactions on non-metallic surfaces. Electrocatalysis of Non Metallic Surfaces, NBS Publications, Vol. 455, pp. 203-219. 

Like other ion-exchange polymers, conducting polymers have been used to immobilize electroactive ions at electrode surfaces. Often the goal is electrocatalysis, and conducting polymers have the potential advantage of providing a fast mechanism for electron transport to and from the electrocatalytic ions. 

Detailed and shorter39 45 reviews of the electrochemical promotion literature prior to 1996 have been published, mainly addressed either to the catalytic or to the electrochemical community. Earlier applications of solid electrolytes in catalysis, including solid electrolyte potentiometry and electrocatalysis have been reviewed previously. The present book is the first on the electrochemical activation of catalytic reactions and is addressed both to the electrochemical and catalytic communities. We stress both the electrochemical and catalytic aspects of electrochemical promotion and hope that the text will be found useful and easy to follow by all readers, including those not frequently using electrochemical, catalytic and surface science methodology and terminology. 

In the case of electrochemically promoted (NEMCA) catalysts we concentrate on the adsorption on the gas-exposed electrode surface and not at the three-phase-boundaries (tpb). The surface area, Ntpb, of the three-phase-boundaries is usually at least a factor of 100 smaller than the gas-exposed catalyst-electrode surface area Nq. Adsorption at the tpb plays an important role in the electrocatalysis at the tpb, which can affect indirectly the NEMCA behaviour of the electrode. But it contributes little directly to the measured catalytic rate and thus can be neglected. Its effect is built in UWr and [Pg.306]

The reason is that the backspillover ions desorb to the gas phase directly from the three-phase-boundaries or react directly at the three-phase-boundaries (electrocatalysis, A=l) before they can migrate on the gas-exposed electrode surface and promote the catalytic reaction. The limits of NEMCA are set by the limits of stability of the effective double layer at the metal/gas interface. 

Electrocatalysis with mediators located in coatings at the electrode surface is one... 

Markovic NM, Ross PN (2002) Surface science studies of model fuel cell electrocatalysis. Surf Sci Rep 45 117-229... 

The first In situ MBS Investigation of molecules adsorbed on electrode surfaces was aimed primarily at assessing the feasibility of such measurements In systems of Interest to electrocatalysis (18). Iron phthalocyanlne, FePc, was chosen as a model system because of the availability of previous situ Mossbauer studies and Its Importance as a catalyst for O2 reduction. The results obtained have provided considerable Insight Into some of the factors which control the activity of FePc and perhaps other transition metal macrocycles for O2 reduction. These can be summarized as follows ... 

Carbonaceous Surfaces Modification, Characterization, and Uses for Electrocatalysis... 

These conclusions from the infrared reflectance spectra recorded with Pt and Pt-Ru bulk alloys were confirmed in electrocatalysis studies on small bimetallic particles dispersed on high surface area carbon powders.Concerning the structure of bimetallic Pt-Ru particles, in situ Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS>XANES experiments showed that the particle is a true alloy. For practical application, it is very important to determine the optimum composition of the R-Ru alloys. Even if there are still some discrepancies, several recent studies have concluded that an optimum composition about 15 to 20 at.% in ruthenium gives the best results for the oxidation of methanol. This composition is different from that for the oxidation of dissolved CO (about 50 at.% Ru), confirming a different spatial distribution of the adsorbed species. 

The science of electrocatalysis provides the connection between the rates of electrochemical reactions and the bulk and surface properties of the electrodes on which these reactions proceed. 

In electrocatalysis, in contrast to electrochemical kinetics, the rate of an electrochemical reaction is examined at constant external control parameters so as to reveal the influence of the catalytic electrode (its nature, its surface state) on the rate constants in the kinetic equations. 

Some pessimism in assessing the situation in the field of electrocatalysis may also derive from the fact that one of the final aims of work in this held, setting up a full theory of electrocatalysis at a quantum-mechanical level while accounhng for all interactions of the reacting species with each other and with the catalyst surface, is still very far from being reahzed. So far we do not even have a semiempirical— if sufficiently general—theory with which we could predict the catalytic activity of various catalysts. 

At present, most workers hold a more realistic view of the promises and difficulties of work in electrocatalysis. Starting in the 1980s, new lines of research into the state of catalyst surfaces and into the adsorption of reactants and foreign species on these surfaces have been developed. Techniques have been developed that can be used for studies at the atomic and molecular level. These techniques include the tunneling microscope, versions of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and of photoelectron spectroscopy, differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy, and others. The broad application of these techniques has considerably improved our understanding of the mechanism of catalytic effects in electrochemical reactions. 

Kohei Uosaki received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Osaka University and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from flinders University of South Australia. He vas a Research Chemist at Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. Ltd. from 1971 to 1978 and a Research Officer at Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University, U.K. bet veen 1978 and 1980 before joining Hokkaido University in 1980 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. He vas promoted to Associate Professor in 1981 and Professor in 1990. He is also a Principal Investigator of International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) Satellite, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) since 2008. His scientific interests include photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor electrodes, surface electrochemistry of single crystalline metal electrodes, electrocatalysis, modification of solid surfaces by molecular layers, and non-linear optical spectroscopy at interfaces. 

Since 1976 until present time Toshima-t5q)e nanocolloids always had a major impact on catalysis and electrocatalysis at nanoparticle surfaces [47,210-213,398-407]. The main advantages of these products lie in the efficient control of the inner structure and morphology especially of bimetallic and even multimetallic catalyst systems. 

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