Galvanic replacement is the spontaneous replacement of surface layers of a metal, M, by a more noble metal, M noble , when the former is treated with a solution containing the latter in ionic form, according to the general replacement reaction: nM + mM noble n+ → nM m+ + mM noble. The reaction is driven by the difference in the equilibrium potential of the two metal/metal ion redox couples and, to avoid parasitic cathodic processes such as oxygen reduction and (in some cases) hydrogen evolution too, both oxygen levels and the pH must be optimized. The resulting bimetallic material can in principle have a M noble-rich shell and M-rich core (denoted as M noble (M)) leading to a possible decrease in noble metal loading and the modification of its properties by the underlying metal M. This paper reviews a number of bimetallic or ternary electrocatalytic materials prepared by galvanic replacement for fuel cell, electrolysis and electrosynthesis reactions. These include oxygen reduction, methanol, formic acid and ethanol oxidation, hydrogen evolution and oxidation, oxygen evolution, borohydride oxidation, and halide reduction. Methods for depositing the precursor metal M on the support material (electrodeposition, electroless deposition, photodeposition) as well as the various options for the support are also reviewed. 1. Principle of Galvanic Replacement/Deposition 1.1. Thermodynamic Considerations When a metal, M (e.g., Cu, Fe, Co, Ni, Al, etc.), is immersed in a solution containing ions of a more noble metal, M noble n+ (e.g., Pt, Au, Pd, Ag, Ru, Ir, Rh, Os, etc.-i.e., a metal with a higher standard potential) then, due to the difference in their standard electrochemical potentials, E 0 noble − E 0 > 0, and provided that the ionic form of M is stable under the given experimental conditions (of temperatue, pH, complexing agents etc.), the following reaction is thermodynamically favored and can take place spontaneously: M noble n+ + n/m M → M noble + n/m M m+ (1) This reaction, which bears similarities with transmetalation reactions between metal complexes [1] and is also known as immersion plating [2] in the plating industry and galvanic replacement [3] in materials chemistry, can be considered to originate from the coupling of the following two half-reactions: M noble n+ + ne − ↔ M noble (E 0 noble) (2) M m+ + me − ↔ M (E 0) (3)
