Aqueous Voltammetry in the Near Absence of Electrolyte

In order to minimize the incidence of the CO₂ hydrolysis and conduct aqueous electrochemistry in the virtual absence of electrolyte, a novel methodology is developed to achieve the near minimum conductivity (≈60 nS cm^-1 ) for an aqueous solution through in situ deionization with ion exchange resin beads. Aqueous electrochemistry studying the oxidations of platinum, ferrocenemethanol, and hydrogen (H₂ ) were conducted in the near complete absence of trace ionic species at a platinum microelectrode (d=10 μm). Both surface and solution phase electrochemical reactions were clearly observed, indicating that under these conditions there is a sufficiently compressed double layer for an interfacial electron transfer to be driven and the iR effects are significantly smaller than theoretically expected.