Unifying the 2e- and 4e- Reduction of Oxygen on Metal Surfaces

Authors: 
Venkat Viswanathan, Heine A. Hansen, Jan Rossmeisl, Jens K. Nørskov
Year of publication: 
2012
Journal: 
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Understanding trends in selectivity is of paramount importance for multi-electron electrochemical reactions. The goal of this work is to address the issue of 2e– versus 4e– reduction of oxygen on metal surfaces. Using a detailed thermodynamic analysis based on density functional theory calculations, we show that to a first approximation an activity descriptor, ΔGOH*, the free energy of adsorbed OH*, can be used to describe trends for the 2e– and 4e– reduction of oxygen. While the weak binding of OOH* on Au(111) makes it an unsuitable catalyst for the 4e– reduction, this weak binding is optimal for the 2e– reduction to H2O2. We find quite a remarkable agreement between the predictions of the model and experimental results spanning nearly 30 years.

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