Breaking scaling relations in electrocatalysis
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FEATURE ARTICLE
Breaking scaling relations in electrocatalysis Justus Masa 1 & Wolfgang Schuhmann 2 Received: 5 July 2020 / Revised: 5 July 2020 / Accepted: 7 July 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
If we had to decide today about a career perspective, we would probably decide for electrochemistry. Electrochemistry is of utmost importance to contribute to technological solutions for solving challenging societal problems including but not limited to corrosion and corrosion protection, sensors, biosensors, biomedical devices, battery technology, electrocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, electrosynthesis, fuel cells, electrolysers, etc. Electrochemistry is of vital importance for developing countries from bringing light into cottages, prevention of tree cutting for firewood and mobile phone communication to powering water pumps or cleaning contaminated water, etc. And evidently with economic growth, the energy consumption per person is increasing as a basis for improving the standard of living. Hence, to overcome poverty and provide education, to synthesise fertilisers and provide energy for heating and transportation, human kind has to cope with a tremendous increase in energy consumption which logically cannot be satisfied by increased burning of fossil fuels considering the associated impact on the climate. Electrochemical energy storage and conversion technologies, including batteries, electrolysers and fuel cells, are providing the only hope for broad-based energy storage applications [1, 2], including conversion of N2, H2O and CO2, into chemical energy carriers, fertilisers and industrial chemicals [3]. However, in order to achieve sufficient product formation rates, both electrolysers and fuel cells have to be operated at far higher voltage than thermodynamically suggested. Moreover, if multiple reaction products are possible as, e.g. in the case of the CO2 reduction reaction, selectivity to increase the yield of the preferred products is a great challenge. In addition, industrial processes require an outstanding * Wolfgang Schuhmann [email protected] Justus Masa [email protected] 1
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Stiftstrasse 34-36, D-45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
2
Analytical Chemistry-Center for Electrochemical Sciences (CES); Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, D-44780 Bochum, Germany
catalyst stability. Hence, the three main challenges for industrial application of electrocatalytic N2, H2O and CO2 conversion into valuable energy carriers and chemical feedstock are insufficient activity, poor product selectivity and unsatisfactory stability. At electrocatalytically active sites at the interface between an (catalyst-modified) electrode and the electrolyte, complex chemical phenomena take place, including adsorption and desorption processes, electrostatic interactions and electron and charge transfer reactions. The reactions at this interface are sensitive on a complex interplay of parameters such as the geometric and electron
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