Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Heterogeneous Removal of Water-Soluble Ruthenium Olefin Metathesis Catalyst from Aqueous Media Via Host-Guest Interaction
Published on: August 23, 2018
Controlling selectivity in the chlorine evolution reaction over RuO₂-based catalysts
Kai S Exner1, Josef Anton, Timo Jacob
1Physical Chemistry Department, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Giessen (Germany).
Abstract:
In the industrially important Chlor-Alkali process, the chlorine evolution reaction (CER) over a ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) catalyst competes with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This selectivity issue is elucidated on the microscopic level with the single-crystalline model electrode RuO2(110) by employing density functional theory (DFT) calculations in combination with the concept of volcano plots. We demonstrate that one monolayer of TiO2(110) supported on RuO2(110) enhances the selectivity towards the CER by several orders of magnitudes, while preserving the high activity for the CER. This win-win situation is attributed to the different slopes of the volcano curves for the CER and OER.
Related Concept Videos
Regioselectivity of Electrophilic Additions to Alkenes: Markovnikov's Rule
The hydrohalogenation of an unsymmetrical alkene can yield two haloalkane products, depending on which vinylic carbon takes up the halogen. However, one product usually predominates, where hydrogen adds to the vinylic carbon bearing the...
Heterogeneous Catalysis
Radical Reactivity: Concentration Effects
Radical Substitution: Allylic Chlorination
Radical Anti-Markovnikov Addition to Alkenes: Overview
Regioselectivity of Electrophilic Additions-Peroxide Effect

