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Title: Surface Proton Transfer Promotes Four-Electron Oxygen Reduction on Gold Nanocrystal Surfaces in Alkaline Solution

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b01735· OSTI ID:1389233

Four-electron oxygen reduction reaction (4e-ORR), as a key pathway in energy conversion, is preferred over the two-electron reduction pathway that falls short in dissociating dioxygen molecules. Gold (Au) surfaces exhibit high sensitivity of the ORR pathway to its atomic structures. The long-standing puzzle remains unsolved why the Au surfaces with {100} sub-facets were exceptionally capable to catalyze the 4e-ORR in alkaline solution, though limited within a narrow potential window. Herein we report the discovery of a dominant 4e-ORR over the whole potential range on {310} surface of Au nanocrystal shaped as truncated ditetragonal prism (TDP). In contrast, ORR pathways on single-crystalline facets of shaped nanoparticles, including {111} on nano-octahedra and {100} on nano-cubes, are similar to their single-crystal counterparts. Combining our experimental results with density functional theory calculations, we elucidate the key role of surface proton transfers from co-adsorbed H2O molecules in activating the facet- and potential-dependent 4e ORR on Au in alkaline solutions. These results elucidate how surface atomic structures determine the reaction pathways via bond scission and formation among weakly adsorbed water and reaction intermediates. The new insight helps in developing facet-specific nanocatalysts for various reactions.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1389233
Report Number(s):
BNL-114198-2017-JA; KC0403020; TRN: US1702363
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 21; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

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Revealing the nature of active sites in electrocatalysis journal January 2019
The Effect of Anions and pH on the Activity and Selectivity of an Annealed Polycrystalline Au Film Electrode in the Oxygen Reduction Reaction‐Revisited journal November 2019
Development of an electrochemical aptasensor using Au octahedra and graphene for signal amplification journal January 2020
Designing Efficient Catalysts through Bimetallic Architecture: Rh@Pt Nanocubes as a Case Study journal August 2017
Regulating locations of active sites: a novel strategy to greatly improve the stability of PtAu electrocatalysts journal January 2019
The Direct Ammonia Fuel Cell and a Common Pattern of Electrocatalytic Processes journal January 2018
Synergistic Mn-Co catalyst outperforms Pt on high-rate oxygen reduction for alkaline polymer electrolyte fuel cells journal April 2019
Shape-controlled Pd nanocrystal–polyaniline heteronanostructures with modulated polyaniline thickness for efficient electrochemical ethanol oxidation journal January 2019
Size and shape dependency of the surface energy of metallic nanoparticles: unifying the atomic and thermodynamic approaches journal January 2018
Elucidation of the Oxygen Reduction Volcano in Alkaline Media using a Copper-Platinum(111) Alloy journal February 2018