Understanding the electric and nonelectric field components of the cation effect on the electrochemical CO reduction reaction

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC)..

Electrolyte cations affect the activity of surface-mediated electrocatalytic reactions; however, understanding the modes of interaction between cations and reaction intermediates remains lacking. We show that larger alkali metal cations (excluding the thickness of the hydration shell) promote the electrochemical CO reduction reaction on polycrystalline Cu surfaces in alkaline electrolytes. Combined reactivity and in situ surface-enhanced spectroscopic investigations show that changes to the interfacial electric field strength cannot solely explain the reactivity trend with cation size, suggesting the presence of a nonelectric field strength component in the cation effect. Spectroscopic investigations with cation chelating agents and organic molecules show that the electric and nonelectric field components of the cation effect could be affected by both cation identity and composition of the electrochemical interface. The interdependent nature of interfacial species indicates that the cation effect should be considered an integral part of the broader effect of composition and structure of the electrochemical interface on electrode-mediated reactions.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:6

Enthalten in:

Science advances - 6(2020), 45 vom: 06. Nov.

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Malkani, A S [VerfasserIn]
Li, J [VerfasserIn]
Oliveira, N J [VerfasserIn]
He, M [VerfasserIn]
Chang, X [VerfasserIn]
Xu, B [VerfasserIn]
Lu, Q [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Journal Article

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 25.11.2020

published: Electronic-Print

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1126/sciadv.abd2569

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM317266748