Electrical cross-talk in rotating ring–disk experiments

Design and Impact: Navigating the Electrochemical Characterization Methods for Supported Catalysts

This review will investigate the impact of electrochemical characterization method design choices on intrinsic catalyst activity measurements by predominantly using the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on supported catalysts as a model reaction. The wider use of hydrogen for transportation or electrical grid stabilization requires improvements in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance. One of the areas for improvement is the (ORR) catalyst efficiency and durability. Research and development of the traditional platinum-based catalysts have commonly been performed using rotating disk electrodes (RDE), rotating ring disk electrodes (RRDE), and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). However, the mass transport conditions of RDE and RRDE limit their usefulness in characterizing supported catalysts at high current densities, and MEA characterizations can be complex, lengthy, and costly. Ultramicroelectrode with a catalyst-filled cavity addresses some of these problems, but with limited success. Due to the properties discussed in this review, the recent floating electrode (FE) and the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) methods offer additional capabilities in the electrochemical characterization process. With the FE technique, the intrinsic activity of catalysts for ORR can be investigated, leading to a better understanding of the ORR mechanism through more reliable experimental data from application-relevant high-mass transport conditions. The GDEs are helpful bridging tools between RDE and MEA experiments, simplifying the fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturing and operating optimization process.

Suppression of Resistive Coupling in Nanogap Electrochemical Cell: Resolution of Dual Pathways for Dopamine Oxidation

A nanogap cell involves two working electrodes separated by a nanometer-wide solution to enable unprecedented electrochemical measurements. The powerful nanogap measurements, however, can be seriously interfered with by resistive coupling between the two electrodes to yield erroneous current responses. Herein, we employ the nanogap cell based on double carbon-fiber microelectrodes to suppress resistive coupling for the assessment of intrinsic current responses. Specifically, we modify a commercial bipotentiostat to compensate the Ohmic potential drop shared by the two electrodes through the common current pathway with a fixed resistance in the solution. Resistive coupling through both non-Faradaic and Faradaic processes is suppressed to eliminate erroneous current responses. Our approach is applied to investigate the mechanism of dopamine oxidation at carbon-fiber microelectrodes as important electrochemical sensors for the crucial neurotransmitter. Resistive coupling is suppressed to manifest the intrinsic current responses based on the oxidation of both adsorbed and non-adsorbed forms of dopamine to the respective forms of dopamine-o-quinone. The simultaneous dual oxidation pathways are observed for the first time and can be mediated through either non-concerted or concerted mechanisms of adsorption-coupled electron transfer. The two mechanisms are not discriminated for the two-electron oxidation of dopamine because it can not be determined whether the intermediate, dopamine semi-quinone, is adsorbed on the electrode surface. Significantly, our approach will be useful to manifest intrinsic current responses without resistive coupling for nanogaps and microgaps, which are too narrow to eliminate the common solution resistance by optimizing the position of a reference electrode.

Stabilization of a Mn-Co Oxide During Oxygen Evolution in Alkaline Media

Improving the stability of electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) through materials design has received less attention than improving their catalytic activity. We explored the effects of Mn addition to a cobalt oxide for stabilizing the catalyst by comparing single phase CoOx and (Co0.7Mn0.3)Ox films electrodeposited in alkaline solution. The obtained disordered films were classified as layered oxides using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The CoOx films showed a constant decrease in the catalytic activity during cycling, confirmed by oxygen detection, while that of (Co0.7Mn0.3)Ox remained constant within error as measured by electrochemical metrics. These trends were rationalized based on XAS analysis of the metal oxidation states, which were Co2.7+ and Mn3.7+ in the bulk and similar near the surface of (Co0.7Mn0.3)Ox, before and after cycling. Thus, Mn in (Co0.7Mn0.3)Ox successfully stabilized the bulk catalyst material and its surface activity during OER cycling. The development of stabilization approaches is essential to extend the durability of OER catalysts.

Real-Time In Situ Monitoring of CO2 Electroreduction in the Liquid and Gas Phases by Coupled Mass Spectrometry and Localized Electrochemistry

The mechanism and dynamics of the CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR) remain poorly understood, which is largely caused by mass transport limitations and lack of time-correlated product analysis tools. In this work, a custom-built gas accessible membrane electrode (GAME) system is used to comparatively assess the CO₂RR behavior of Au and Au−Cu catalysts. The platform achieves high reduction currents (∼ – 50 mA cm^–2 at 1.1 V vs RHE) by creating a three-phase boundary interface equipped with an efficient gas-circulation pathway, facilitating rapid mass transport of CO₂. The GAME system can also be easily coupled with many other analytical techniques as exemplified by mass spectrometry (MS) and localized ultramicroelectrode (UME) voltammetry to enable real-time and in situ product characterization in the gas and liquid phases, respectively. The gaseous product distribution is explicitly and quantitatively elucidated with high time resolution (on the scale of seconds), allowing for the independent assessment of Tafel slope estimates for the hydrogen (159/168 mV decade^–1), ethene (160/170 mV decade^–1), and methane (96/100 mV decade^–1) evolution reactions. Moreover, the UME is used to simultaneously measure the local pH shift during CO₂RR and assess the production of liquid phase species including formate. A positive shift of 0.8 pH unit is observed at a current density of −11 mA cm^–2 during the CO₂RR.