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Updated: May 23, 2026

Synthesis of Platinum-nickel Nanowires and Optimization for Oxygen Reduction Performance
Published on: April 27, 2018
Hydrogen peroxide electrochemistry on platinum: towards understanding the oxygen reduction reaction mechanism
Ioannis Katsounaros1, Wolfgang B Schneider, Josef C Meier
1Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany. katsounaros@mpie.de
Abstract:
Understanding the hydrogen peroxide electrochemistry on platinum can provide information about the oxygen reduction reaction mechanism, whether H(2)O(2) participates as an intermediate or not. The H(2)O(2) oxidation and reduction reaction on polycrystalline platinum is a diffusion-limited reaction in 0.1 M HClO(4). The applied potential determines the Pt surface state, which is then decisive for the direction of the reaction: when H(2)O(2) interacts with reduced surface sites it decomposes producing adsorbed OH species; when it interacts with oxidized Pt sites then H(2)O(2) is oxidized to O(2) by reducing the surface. Electronic structure calculations indicate that the activation energies of both processes are low at room temperature. The H(2)O(2) reduction and oxidation reactions can therefore be utilized for monitoring the potential-dependent oxidation of the platinum surface. In particular, the potential at which the hydrogen peroxide reduction and oxidation reactions are equally likely to occur reflects the intrinsic affinity of the platinum surface for oxygenated species. This potential can be experimentally determined as the crossing-point of linear potential sweeps in the positive direction for different rotation rates, hereby defined as the "ORR-corrected mixed potential" (c-MP).
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