Electrocapillary coupling during electrosorption

Noble Metal-Based Catalysts with Core-Shell Structure for Oxygen Reduction Reaction: Progress and Prospective

With the deterioration of the ecological environment and the depletion of fossil energy, fuel cells, representing a new generation of clean energy, have received widespread attention. This review summarized recent progress in noble metal-based core-shell catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The novel testing methods, performance evaluation parameters and research methods of ORR were briefly introduced. The effects of the preparation method, temperature, kinds of doping elements and the number of shell layers on the ORR performances of noble metal-based core-shell catalysts were highlighted. The difficulties of mass production and the high cost of noble metal-based core-shell nanostructured ORR catalysts were also summarized. Thus, in order to promote the commercialization of noble metal-based core-shell catalysts, research directions and prospects on the further development of high performance ORR catalysts with simple synthesis and low cost are presented.

Electrocatalyst Design for Conversion of Energy Molecules: Electronic State Modulation and Mass Transport Regulation

Electrocatalytic conversions of energy molecules are involved in many energy conversion processes. Improving the activity of electrocatalyst is critical for increasing the efficiency of these energy conversion processes. However, the...

The Mechanical Effect of MnO2 Layers on Electrochemical Actuation Performance of Nanoporous Gold

This study investigated the electrochemical actuation behavior of nanoporous material during the capacitive process. The length change of nanoporous gold (npg) was in situ investigated in a liquid environment using the dilatometry technique. The mechanical effect of MnO₂ layers was introduced in this work to improve the actuation characteristics of the npg samples. Our work found that the actuation behavior of npg sample could be significantly modulated with a covering of MnO₂ layers. The electrochemical actuation amplitude was efficiently improved and strongly dependent on the thickness of MnO₂ layers covered. Aside from the amplitude, the phase relation between the length change and the electrode potential was inverted when covering the MnO₂ layer on the npg samples. This means the expansion of the npg samples and the contraction of samples covered with the MnO₂ layer when electrochemical potential sweeps positively. A simple finite element model was built up to understand the effect of the MnO₂ layer. The agreement between the simulation result and the experimental data indicates that the sign-inverted actuation-potential response of nanoporous gold contributes to the mechanical effect of MnO₂. It is believed that our work could offer a deep understanding on the effect of the MnO₂ layer on the electrochemical actuation and then provide a useful strategy to modulate the actuation performance of nanoporous metal materials.

A Simple Mechanical Method to Modulate the Electrochemical Electrosorption Processes at Metal Surfaces

The coupling of electrochemical processes and surface strain has been widely investigated in the past. The present work briefly introduces a simple method to modulate the electrochemical process at metal surfaces by mechanical bending. In this way, the static strain at the metal layer can reach the order of 1%. The cyclic voltammogram was used to study the electrosorption process of oxygen species at sputtered metal surfaces under different strain states. The experimental results show that the desorption peak potential of oxygen at the Au surface shifted positively by tensile strain, whereas the desorption peak potential at the Pt surface shifted negatively. This phenomenon indicates that tensile strain has an opposite effect on the electrosorption process for Au and Pt surfaces. Our results agree with the previous reports on the potential variation induced by dynamic strain. This work thus offers a simple method to modulate the electrosorption process at metal surfaces and then to enhance the reactivity of metal electrodes.

Electrocapillary Coupling at Metal Surfaces from First Principles: On the Impact of Excess Charge on Surface Stress and Relaxation

We study the response of the surface stress to excess charge via ab initio simulation of metal surfaces in an external electric field. We focus on "simple" sp-bonded metals to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying electrocapillary coupling. Both the direct effect on the surface stress via charging of the bonds and the indirect effect resulting from the charge-induced relaxation are analyzed and discussed in relation to the trends of the coupling coefficients, which-owing to a Maxwell relation-are determined in terms of the response of the work function to strain. Al(111), Mg(0001), and Na(110) are investigated as prototypical sp-bonded metal surfaces with positive, vanishing, and negative coupling parameters, respectively. Mg(0001) and Al(111) exhibit an inward relaxation of the first atomic layer upon negative charging, whereas an outward relaxation occurs for Na(110). The indirect contribution of the relaxation to the coupling coefficient has the same sign as the total response and makes up about 30% of its magnitude for Al(111) and Na(110). Our study highlights that even the response behavior of the so-called simple metals is by no means readily captured within simple models.

Electrocapillary coupling at rough surfaces

The surface roughness of an electrode has a strong impact on the apparent value of electrocapillary coupling coefficient, ς_eff, which relates the response of electrode potential to tangential strain.