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Hydrogen peroxide production in the oxygen reduction reaction at different electrocatalysts as quantified by scanning
Carlos M Sánchez-Sánchez1, Allen J Bard
1Center for Electrochemistry and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
Abstract:
We present data for H2O2 production at eight different materials tested as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.5 M H2SO4 (Hg, Au, Ag, Cu, Pt, Pd, Pd80Co20, and Au60Cu40) using scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) as an alternative to the widely used rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) method. The amount of H2O2 is related to the total number of electrons, n, found in the O2 reduction reaction, with n = 2 showing only H2O2 production and n = 4 showing no H2O2 formation. From the SECM study Hg shows n close to 2, whereas Pt and Pd80Co20 show n-values near 4. The other materials show intermediate n-values as a function of potential.
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