Addressing the Stability of Bulk Electrode Materials in the Electrochemical Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Besides activity and selectivity, the stability is of great importance in the development of catalysts for long-term applications. However, the lack of standardized stability protocols in electrocatalysis remains a fundamental hurdle hindering progress in the field by the lack of quantitative comparability of data in different studies. Herein, an electrochemical protocol to address the stability of bulk electrodes is developed. The protocol tests in situ and operando stability in the electrochemical methanol oxidation in alkaline media using the intermetallic compounds SnPd 2 and ZnPd 2 as test materials. Stability tests resulted in an equimolar mixture of 0.5 M methanol and 0.5 M KOH being the optimum composition of the electrolyte to obtain low corrosion rates and in ZnPd 2 being less stable than SnPd 2 . The reported protocol is a first, easy-to-do step to investigate the stability of electrode materials which is a prerequisite for application as well as a knowledge-based development of new electrode materials.

In situ electrochemical activation as a generic strategy for promoting the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction and alcohol electro-oxidation in alkaline medium

“…To examine this purpose, accelerated durability test (ADT) and chronoamperometric measurement were conducted at the EA-AuPd and AuPd electrocatalysts. 55 The ADT for the electrodes was performed by applying successive CV aging (200 cycles) from −0.8 V to 0.4 V ( vs. Ag/AgCl) in the presence of methanol and NaOH solution (Fig. S8a and b † ).…”

Intermetallic compounds in catalysis – a versatile class of materials meets interesting challenges

“…Subsequently, the temperature can be increased to accelerate the diffusion in the solid sample and to reach thermodynamic equilibrium. The method has been successfully applied to the synthesis of foils of intermetallic compounds in the systems Pd-Zn [ 131 ], Cu-Zn [ 128 ] and Pt-Zn [ 132 ] for electrochemical investigations. These can not be obtained by pressing or cold rolling from ingots due to the high brittleness of the intermetallic compounds.…”

Establishing the Isostructural Platform GaPd2‐InPd2‐SnPd2 to Address Electronic and/or Structural Effects

“…Intermetallic compounds can be applied as platform materials in heterogeneous catalysis, leading to a boost in developments in recent years. [1] Here, platform materials refers to the possibility to always return to a well-defined starting point for catalytic testing or material characterisation methods. This reference point can reproducibly be obtained by simple polishing of samples (e.g.…”