Scientists capture electron transfer image in electrocatalysis procedure. Credit: DICP
The involvement between electron transfer (ET) and catalytic response at electrocatalyst surface area makes electrochemical process challenging to manage and comprehend. How to experimentally figure out ET procedure occurring at nanoscale is necessary to comprehend the general electrochemical response process at active sites.
Just recently, a research study group led by Prof. LI Can and Prof. FAN Fengtao from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) recorded the electron transfer imaging in electrocatalysis procedure.
This research study was recently published in the journal Nano Letters.
The scientists established an in-situ electrochemical imaging method with nanoscale spatial resolution, which integrated atomic force microscopy and scanning electrochemical imaging. This approach can understand the three-dimensional motion of the scanning nanoprobe to map the local circulation of the produced outer-spherical electron transfer particles and the catalytic product particles.
The visual electron transfer images on metal nanoplates straight showed that the electron transfer procedure at nanoscale presented a site-dependent heterogeneity.
Furthermore, to decouple the disturbance of the mass transfer result on the electron transfer, the researchers carried out a series of elaborate experiments and intricate mathematical modeling to draw out the rate internal and constant possible difference. They found that the relationship between the interfacial inner possible difference and the rate consistent followed a linear style.
This work understands the in-situ observation of electron transfer process and catalytic response in the electrochemical reaction, and provides originalities for the advancement of in-situ imaging characterization approach and the detection of the mechanism of the electrocatalytic reactions.
” This is a brand-new milestone of the scanning electrochemical probe techniques, making it possible to find the structure-performance relation of nanocatalyst from the bottom of chemical and physical concepts,” commented by one of the customers.
Recommendation: “Visualizing the Spatial Heterogeneity of Electron Transfer on a Metallic Nanoplate Prism” by Wei Nie, Qianhong Zhu, Yuying Gao, Ziyuan Wang, Yong Liu, Xun Wang, Ruotian Chen, Fengtao Fan and Can Li, 14 October 2021, Nano Letters.DOI: 10.1021/ acs.nanolett.1 c03529.