Potential dependent surface relaxation of the Pt(001)/electrolyte interface

In Situ and Operando X-ray Scattering Methods in Electrochemistry and Electrocatalysis

Electrochemical and electrocatalytic processes are of key importance for the transition to a sustainable energy supply as well as for a wide variety of other technologically relevant fields. Further development of these processes requires in-depth understanding of the atomic, nano, and micro scale structure of the materials and interfaces in electrochemical devices under reaction conditions. We here provide a comprehensive review of in situ and operando studies by X-ray scattering methods, which are powerful and highly versatile tools to provide such understanding. We discuss the application of X-ray scattering to a wide variety of electrochemical systems, ranging from metal and oxide single crystals to nanoparticles and even full devices. We show how structural data on bulk phases, electrode-electrolyte interfaces, and nanoscale morphology can be obtained and describe recent developments that provide highly local information and insight into the composition and electronic structure. These X-ray scattering studies yield insights into the structure in the double layer potential range as well as into the structural evolution during electrocatalytic processes and phase formation reactions, such as nucleation and growth during electrodeposition and dissolution, the formation of passive films, corrosion processes, and the electrochemical intercalation into battery materials.

Toward Operando Characterization of Interphases in Batteries

Electrode/electrolyte interfaces are the most important and least understood components of Li-ion and next-generation batteries. An improved understanding of interphases in batteries will undoubtedly lead to breakthroughs in the field. Traditionally, evaluating those interphases involves using ex situ surface sensitive and/or imaging techniques. Due to their very dynamic and reactive nature, ex situ sample manipulation is undesirable. From this point of view, operando surface sensitive techniques represent a major opportunity to push boundaries in battery development. While numerous bulk spectroscopic, scattering, and imaging techniques are well established and widely used, surface sensitive operando techniques remain challenging and, to a larger extent, restricted to the model systems. Here, we give a perspective on techniques with the potential to characterize solid/liquid interfaces in both model and realistic battery configurations. The focus is on techniques that provide chemical and structural information at length and time scales relevant for the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation and evolution, while also probing representative electrode areas. We highlight the following techniques: vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), neutron and X-ray reflectometry, and grazing incidence scattering techniques. Comprehensive overviews, as well as promises and challenges, of these techniques when used operando on battery interphases are discussed in detail.

First-principles hydration free energies of oxygenated species at water-platinum interfaces

The hydration free energy of atoms and molecules adsorbed at liquid-solid interfaces strongly influences the stability and reactivity of solid surfaces. However, its evaluation is challenging in both experiments and theories. In this work, a machine learning aided molecular dynamics method is proposed and applied to oxygen atoms and hydroxyl groups adsorbed on Pt(111) and Pt(100) surfaces in water. The proposed method adopts thermodynamic integration with respect to a coupling parameter specifying a path from well-defined non-interacting species to the fully interacting ones. The atomistic interactions are described by a machine-learned inter-atomic potential trained on first-principles data. The free energy calculated by the machine-learned potential is further corrected by using thermodynamic perturbation theory to provide the first-principles free energy. The calculated hydration free energies indicate that only the hydroxyl group adsorbed on the Pt(111) surface attains a hydration stabilization. The observed trend is attributed to differences in the adsorption site and surface morphology.

Transmission Surface Diffraction for Operando Studies of Heterogeneous Interfaces

Processes at material interfaces to liquids or to high-pressure gases often involve structural changes that are heterogeneous on the micrometer scale. We present a novel in situ X-ray scattering technique that uses high-energy photons and a transmission geometry for atomic-scale studies under these conditions. Transmission surface diffraction gives access to a large fraction of reciprocal space in a single acquisition, allowing direct imaging of the in-plane atomic arrangement at the interface. Experiments with focused X-ray beams enable mapping of these structural properties with micrometer spatial resolution. The potential of this new technique is illustrated by in situ studies of electrochemical surface phase transitions and deposition processes.

Surface X-ray scattering of stepped surfaces of platinum in an electrochemical environment: Pt(331) = 3(111)-(111) and Pt(511) = 3(100)-(111)

Real surface structures of the high-index planes of Pt with three atomic rows of terraces (Pt(331) = 3(111)-(111) and Pt(511) = 3(100)-(111)) have been determined in 0.1 M HClO(4) at 0.1 and 0.5 V(RHE) with the use of surface X-ray scattering (SXS). The surfaces with two atomic rows of terraces, Pt(110) = 2(111)-(111) and Pt(311) = 2(100)-(111) = 2(111)-(100), are reconstructed to a (1 × 2) structure according to previous studies. However, the surfaces with three atomic rows of terraces have pseudo-(1 × 1) structures. The interlayer spacing between the first and the second layers, d(12), is expanded 13% on Pt(331) compared to that of the bulk, whereas it is contracted 37% on Pt(511). The surface structures do not depend on the applied potential on either surface.

In situ surface X-ray scattering of stepped surface of platinum: Pt(311)

Surface structure of a stepped surface of Pt, Pt(311) (=2(100)-(111)), has been determined under potential control in 0.1 M HClO4 with the use of in situ surface X-ray scattering (SXS). The crystal truncation rods (CTRs) are reproduced well with the (1x2) missing-row model. Relaxation of surface layers, which is observed on the low-index planes of Pt, is not found on Pt(311) in the "adsorbed hydrogen region". CTRs at 0.10 (RHE) have the same feature as those at 0.50 V, showing that the surface layers of Pt(311) have no potential dependence. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) also supports the (1x2) structure of Pt(311) in 0.1 M HClO4.

Determination of O and OH adsorption sites and coverage in situ on Pt electrodes from Pt L(2,3) X-ray absorption spectroscopy

The adsorption of atomic oxygen and hydroxide on a platinum electrode in 0.1 M HClO4 or H2SO4 electrolytes was studied in situ with Pt L(2,3) X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS and XANES). The Pt L3 edge absorption data, mu, were collected at room temperature in transmission mode on beamline X-11A at the National Synchrotron Light Source using a custom built cell. The Pt electrode was formed of highly dispersed 1.5-3 nm particles supported on carbon. A novel difference procedure (delta mu = mu(O[H]/Pt) - mu(Pt)) utilizing the L3 XANES spectra at different applied voltages was used to isolate the effects of O[H] (O or OH) adsorption in the XANES spectra. The Deltamu results are compared with results obtained from real-space full-multiple scattering calculations utilizing the FEFF8 code on model clusters. The experimental results, when compared with theoretical calculations, allow the adsorption site to be identified. At low coverages OH adsorbs primarily in 1-fold coordinated atop sites. As the coverage increases, O binds in the bridge/fcc sites, and at still higher coverages above 1.05 V RHE, O adsorbs into a higher coordinated n-fold or subsurface site, which is thought to be the result of Pt-O site exchange and oxide formation. These results are similar to those found in the gas phase. Direct specific adsorption of bisulfate anions in H2SO4 is spectroscopically seen in both the EXAFS and XANES data and is seen to impede oxygen adsorption consistent with previous reports.

X-ray diffraction and STM study of reactive surfaces under electrochemical control: Cl and I on Cu(100)

The surface structure of Cu(100) modified by chloride and iodide has been studied in an electrochemical environment by means of in-situ scanning tunneling microscopy in combination with in-situ surface X-ray diffraction with a particular focus on adsorbate and potential dependent surface relaxation phenomena. For positive potentials close to the on-set of the copper dissolution reaction, the X-ray data disclose an extraordinarily large Cu-Cl bond length of 2.61 A for the c(2 x 2)-Cl phase. This finding points to a largely ionic character of the Cu-Cl interaction at the Cu(100) surface, with chloride particles likely to retain their full charge upon adsorption. Together with the positive surface charging at these high potentials, this ionic Cu-Cl bond drives the observed 2.2% outward relaxation between the first two copper layers. These results indicate that the bond between the first and the second copper layer is significantly weakened which appears as the crucial prerequisite for the high surface mobility of copper-chloride species under electrochemical annealing conditions at these high potentials. With 2.51 A the Cu-I bond is 4% shorter than the Cu-Cl bond implying that the nature of the Cu-I bond is mainly covalent. Accordingly, we observe a significant inward relaxation of the top Cu layers upon substituting chloride by iodide at the same electrode potential, which suggests that the iodide adsorption involves charge transfer from the halide to the copper substrate.

Surface chemistry on bimetallic alloy surfaces: adsorption of anions and oxidation of CO on Pt3Sn(111)

The microscopic structure of the Pt(3)Sn(111) surface in an electrochemical environment has been studied by a combination of ex situ low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and low-energy ion scattering (LEIS) and in situ surface X-ray scattering (SXS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. In ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) the clean-annealed surface produces a p(2 x 2) LEED pattern consistent with the surface composition, determined by LEIS, of 25 at. % Sn. SXS results show that the p(2 x 2) structure can be "transferred" from UHV into 0.5 M H(2)SO(4) and that the surface structure remains stable from 0.05 to 0.8 V. At 0.05 V the expansion of Pt surface atoms, ca. +2% from the bulk lattice spacing, is induced by adsorption of underpotential-deposited (UPD) hydrogen. At 0.5 V, where Pt atoms are covered by (bi)sulfate anions, the topmost layer is contracted relative to 0.05 V, although Sn atoms expand significantly, ca. 8.5%. The p(2 x 2) structure is stable even in solutions containing CO. In contrast to the Pt(111)-CO system, no ordered structures of CO are formed on the Pt(3)Sn(111) surface and the topmost layer expands relatively little (ca. 1.5%) from the bulk lattice spacing upon the adsorption of CO. The binding site geometry of CO on Pt(3)Sn(111) is determined by FTIR. In contrast to the near invariant band shape of a-top CO on Pt(111), changes in band morphology (splitting of the band) and vibrational properties (increase in the frequency mode) are clearly visible on the Pt(3)Sn(111) surface. To explain the line shape of the CO bands, we suggest that in addition to alloying effects other factors, such as intermolecular repulsion between coadsorbed CO and OH species, are controlling segregation of CO into cluster domains where the local CO coverage is different from the coverage expected for the CO-CO interaction on an unmodified Pt(111) surface.