CaltechAUTHORS
Published January 2015 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Electrochemical surface science twenty years later: Expeditions into the electrocatalysis of reactions at the core of artificial photosynthesis

Creators

Abstract

Surface science research fixated on phenomena and processes that transpire at the electrode-electrolyte interface has been pursued in the past. A considerable proportion of the earlier work was on materials and reactions pertinent to the operation of small-molecule fuel cells. The experimental approach integrated a handful of surface-sensitive physical–analytical methods with traditional electrochemical techniques, all harbored in a single environment-controlled electrochemistry-surface science apparatus (EC-SSA); the catalyst samples were typically precious noble metals constituted of well-defined single-crystal surfaces. More recently, attention has been diverted from fuel-to-energy generation to its converse, (solar) energy-to-fuel transformation; e.g., instead of water synthesis (from hydrogen and oxygen) in fuel cells, water decomposition (to hydrogen and oxygen) in artificial photosynthesis. The rigorous surface-science protocols remain unchanged but the experimental capabilities have been expanded by the addition of several characterization techniques, either as EC-SSA components or as stand-alone instruments. The present manuscript describes results selected from on-going studies of earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the reactions that underpin artificial photosynthesis: nickel-molybdenum alloys for the hydrogen evolution reaction, calcium birnessite as a heterogeneous analogue for the oxygen-evolving complex in natural photosynthesis, and single-crystalline copper in relation to the carbon dioxide reduction reaction.

Additional Information

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Available online 22 July 2014. This material is based upon work performed by the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, supported through the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Award Number DE-SC0004993. JRM was the recipient of a US DOE graduate research fellowship. BSB would like to acknowledge Beckman Institute of the California Institute of Technology for support. MPS and JLS thank Arthur T. Hubbard; friend, colleague and mentor.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
49770
DOI
10.1016/j.susc.2014.06.028
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20140917-091954518

Related works

Describes
10.1016/j.susc.2014.06.028 (DOI)

Funding

Department of Energy (DOE)
DE-SC0004993
Caltech Beckman Institute

Dates

Created
2014-09-17
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
JCAP