Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2021 (NFM21)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2021.097
Publication date: 23rd September 2021
Beyond surface reaction energetics, the structure and composition of the electric double layer exerts an influence on the activity and selectivity of electrochemical reactions. These phenomena often manifest themselves as so-called “pH effects”, i.e. deviations in the dependence of activity on a potential vs. RHE scale. In this talk, I first discuss how adsorbate dipole-field interactions give rise to higher activity for CO2R in alkaline conditions, and how these interactions are tuned by cations and in supported single site catalysts. I then discuss the impact of solution phase reactions and mass transport on the activity and selectivity towards acetate on nanostructured Cu at various pH. I discuss the implications of the mechanistic insights on catalyst design.