Polymer Modification of Surface Electronic Properties of Electrocatalysts
Anirudh Venugopal, Laurentius H. T. Egberts, Jittima Meeprasert, Evgeny A. Pidko, B. Dam, Thomas Burdyny, Vivek Sinha, Wilson A. Smith
Abstract
bonds are introduced at the nickel oxide/polymer interface, resulting in shifting of the reaction selectivity away from the oxygen evolution reaction and toward hydrogen peroxide formation. It is shown that the electron-withdrawing character of the surface fluorocarbon molecule leaves a slight positive charge on the water oxidation intermediates at the adjacent active nickel sites, making their bonds weaker. The concept of modifying the surface electronic properties of an electrocatalyst via stable polymer modification offers an additional route to tune multipathway reactions in polymer/electrocatalyst environments, like with ionomer-modified catalysts or with membrane electrode assemblies.