The synthesis of metal nanostructures usually requires a capping agent that is generally thought to cause anisotropic growth by blocking the addition of atoms to specific crystal facets. This work uses a series of electrochemical measurements with a quartz crystal microbalance and single-crystal electrodes to elucidate the facet-selective chemistry occurring in the synthesis of Cu nanowires. Contrary to prevailing hypotheses, ethylenediamine, a so-called capping agent in the synthesis of Cu nanowires, causes anisotropic growth by increasing the rate of atomic addition to (111) facets at the end of a growing nanowire relative to (100) facets on the sides of a nanowire. Ethylenediamine increases the reduction rate of Cu(OH) on a Cu(111) surface relative to Cu(100) by selectively inhibiting the formation of Cu oxide on Cu(111). This work demonstrates how studying facet-selective electrochemistry can improve the understanding of the processes by which atoms assemble to form anisotropic metal nanostructures.
An effective electrochemical reduction of nitrous oxide (N2O) is established by controlling solution compositions in this study. N2O was electrochemically reduced varying solvent composition and supporting electrolytes (K2SO4 and Na2SO4) concentrations. The differences in reduction current density and solution resistance were analyzed via linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), respectively, depending on solution conditions. UV‐Vis spectroscopy was adopted to measure the solubility of N2O. As a result, among the conditions investigated in this study, 300 mM of K2SO4 and aqueous based solution were revealed as an optimum condition for the electrochemical N2O reduction. At 300 mM of K2SO4, the highest current density was obtained due to a high conductance of the electrolyte and a moderate solubility of N2O.
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