The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions
The evolution of gaseous products is a feature common to several electrochemical processes, often resulting in bubbles adhering to the electrode’s surface. Adherent bubbles reduce the electrode active area, and are therefore generally treated as electrochemically inert entities. Here, we show that t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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NATURE RESEARCH
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100735 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90474 |
| _version_ | 1848765383911145472 |
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| author | Vogel, Yan Evans, Cameron Belotti, Mattia Xu, L. Russell, I.C. Yu, L.J. Fung, A.K.K. Hill, N.S. Darwish, Nadim Gonçales, V.R. Coote, M.L. Swaminathan Iyer, K. Ciampi, Simone |
| author_facet | Vogel, Yan Evans, Cameron Belotti, Mattia Xu, L. Russell, I.C. Yu, L.J. Fung, A.K.K. Hill, N.S. Darwish, Nadim Gonçales, V.R. Coote, M.L. Swaminathan Iyer, K. Ciampi, Simone |
| author_sort | Vogel, Yan |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The evolution of gaseous products is a feature common to several electrochemical processes, often resulting in bubbles adhering to the electrode’s surface. Adherent bubbles reduce the electrode active area, and are therefore generally treated as electrochemically inert entities. Here, we show that this general assumption does not hold for gas bubbles masking anodes operating in water. By means of imaging electrochemiluminescent systems, and by studying the anisotropy of polymer growth around bubbles, we demonstrate that gas cavities adhering to an electrode surface initiate the oxidation of water-soluble species more effectively than electrode areas free of bubbles. The corona of a bubble accumulates hydroxide anions, unbalanced by cations, a phenomenon which causes the oxidation of hydroxide ions to hydroxyl radicals to occur at potentials at least 0.7 V below redox tabled values. The downhill shift of the hydroxide oxidation at the corona of the bubble is likely to be a general mechanism involved in the initiation of heterogeneous electrochemical reactions in water, and could be harnessed in chemical synthesis. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:23Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90474 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:23Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | NATURE RESEARCH |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-904742023-03-16T06:20:13Z The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions Vogel, Yan Evans, Cameron Belotti, Mattia Xu, L. Russell, I.C. Yu, L.J. Fung, A.K.K. Hill, N.S. Darwish, Nadim Gonçales, V.R. Coote, M.L. Swaminathan Iyer, K. Ciampi, Simone Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics BASIS-SETS HYDROGEN CHEMILUMINESCENCE ENERGY ELECTROLYSIS INTERFACE EVOLUTION LUMINOL MODEL The evolution of gaseous products is a feature common to several electrochemical processes, often resulting in bubbles adhering to the electrode’s surface. Adherent bubbles reduce the electrode active area, and are therefore generally treated as electrochemically inert entities. Here, we show that this general assumption does not hold for gas bubbles masking anodes operating in water. By means of imaging electrochemiluminescent systems, and by studying the anisotropy of polymer growth around bubbles, we demonstrate that gas cavities adhering to an electrode surface initiate the oxidation of water-soluble species more effectively than electrode areas free of bubbles. The corona of a bubble accumulates hydroxide anions, unbalanced by cations, a phenomenon which causes the oxidation of hydroxide ions to hydroxyl radicals to occur at potentials at least 0.7 V below redox tabled values. The downhill shift of the hydroxide oxidation at the corona of the bubble is likely to be a general mechanism involved in the initiation of heterogeneous electrochemical reactions in water, and could be harnessed in chemical synthesis. 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90474 10.1038/s41467-020-20186-0 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100735 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT190100148 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ NATURE RESEARCH fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics BASIS-SETS HYDROGEN CHEMILUMINESCENCE ENERGY ELECTROLYSIS INTERFACE EVOLUTION LUMINOL MODEL Vogel, Yan Evans, Cameron Belotti, Mattia Xu, L. Russell, I.C. Yu, L.J. Fung, A.K.K. Hill, N.S. Darwish, Nadim Gonçales, V.R. Coote, M.L. Swaminathan Iyer, K. Ciampi, Simone The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| title | The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| title_full | The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| title_fullStr | The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| title_full_unstemmed | The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| title_short | The corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| title_sort | corona of a surface bubble promotes electrochemical reactions |
| topic | Science & Technology Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics BASIS-SETS HYDROGEN CHEMILUMINESCENCE ENERGY ELECTROLYSIS INTERFACE EVOLUTION LUMINOL MODEL |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100735 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100735 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90474 |