Oxygen Reduction Reaction at Single‐Site Catalysts: A Combined Electrochemical Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy and DFT Investigation on Iron Octaethylporphyrin Chloride on HOPG**
Alessandro Facchin, Mirco Zerbetto, Armando Gennaro, Andrea Vittadini, Daniel Forrer, Christian Durante
Abstract
Abstract Here, we investigate the electrochemical activity of a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) supported iron octaethylporphyrin chloride film as a working electrode for the oxygen reduction reaction in 0.1 M HClO 4 electrolyte. A voltammetric investigation indicated a quasi‐reversible electron transfer for the Fe III /Fe II redox process, which turned out to be responsible for a “redox catalysis like” mechanism, in which the reduction of the metal center is first required to allow the O 2 reduction. Here we proved that O 2 is mostly reduced to H 2 O in a tetraelectronic process, as evidenced by a rotating ring‐disk electrode (RRDE). Furthermore, electrochemical scanning tunnelling microscopy (EC‐STM) is used as in operando technique for probing the electrode surface at the atomic level while the oxygen reduction reaction occurs, obtaining information on the molecule adlayer electronic and topographic structures. This allows us to follow the change in redox state from Fe III to Fe II induced by the change of the electrode potential in O 2 saturated electrolyte. The adsorption of O 2 at the iron center was visualized and its depletion upon the application of a potential at which O 2 can be reduced. The ORR process catalyzed by FeOEP adsorbed on HOPG was modelled by combining density functional theory, molecular dynamics, and thermodynamics data.