Electrocatalysis and the Production of Nanoparticles

Aims of Electrocatalysis

“…Electrocatalysis is one of the most important fields of contemporary electrochemistry [3,[29][30][31]. It was reported that Bowden and Rideal were the true originators of investigations of electrochemical reaction rates on many materials [29].…”

“…The optimum pore size of the electrode material ensuring the highest electrocatalytic activity has been searched for [3]. Recently, Açikyildiz et al [3] reported that micropores are not useful because electrochemical reactions for charge balance require ionic conductance media, and the mass transport rate of ionic species into micropores on the surface of the electrode material becomes several orders of magnitude lower in comparison with that in the bulk of the electrolyte. Therefore, one of the main goals of contemporary electrocatalysis is maximization of the surface accessibility by the use of the electrode materials characterized by the structures with meso-or macropores [32].…”

“…The newest literature overview shows that there is a lot of investigations concerning the development of nanoparticles with different electrocatalytic applications [3,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. Among such electrocatalysts the following exemplary nanoparticles were noted: Au and Au-Pd core-shell nanoparticles [33]; Ni, Pt, and Ni-Pt nanoparticles [34]; Pt and Pt-Pd core-shell nanoparticles [35]; SnO 2 -Au nanoparticles [36]; Pt 25 Cu 75 and Pt 20 Cu 20 Co 60 nanoparticles [37]; bimetallic PdNi nanoparticles [38]; or Pt-Sn nanoparticles [39].…”

“…The term "electrocatalysis" usually means the part of science which combines electrochemistry and catalysis and binds the physical and chemical properties of the electrode material at the rate and selectivity occurring on the surface of the electrochemical reactions. This term is used only for electrochemical reactions occurring in the process without the stoichiometric participation of the electrode material [1][2][3][4][5]. This approach to the problem of electrocatalysis is reflected in one of the first equations of electrochemical kinetics -in the Tafel equation, binding the overpotential value with the current density [4]:…”

“…As in the case of chemical catalysis, the way in which the surface on which an electrochemical reaction occurs is prepared plays an important role in electrocatalysis. The contact with the electrolyte solution and the effect of the electrode potential lead to the fact that new possibilities for carrying out the reaction, which are impossible in the case of chemical catalysis, appear in electrochemical systems [1][2][3][4][5].…”