Visualization of an Accelerated Electrochemical Reaction under an Enhanced Electric Field
Open Access
- 1 January 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Research
Abstract
Locally enhanced electric fields produced by high-curvature structures have been reported to boost the charge transport process and improve the relevant catalytic activity. However, no visual evidence has been achieved to support this new electrochemical mechanism. Here, accelerated electrochemiluminescence (ECL) reactions emitting light are visualized for the first time at the heterogeneous interfaces between microbowls and the supporting electrode surface. The simulation result shows that the electric intensity at the interface with a high curvature is 40-fold higher than that at the planar surface. Consequently, local high electric fields concentrate reactive species to the heterogeneous interfaces and efficiently promote the charge transport reactions, which directly leads to the enhancement of ECL emission surrounding the microbowls. Additionally, the potential to induce visual ECL from a ruthenium complex drops to 0.9V, which further illustrates the promotion of an electrochemical reaction with the aid of an enhanced electric field. This important visualization of electric field boosted electrochemical reactions helps to establish the proposed electron transfer mechanism and provide an alternative strategy to improve electrocatalytic efficiency.Keywords
Funding Information
- Nanjing University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (21874069)
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (2016YFA0201200)
This publication has 41 references indexed in Scilit:
- High-Curvature Nanostructuring Enhances Probe Display for Biomolecular DetectionNano Letters, 2017
- High-Density Nanosharp Microstructures Enable Efficient CO2 ElectroreductionNano Letters, 2016
- Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy: A Comprehensive Review of Experimental Parameters from 1989 to 2015Chemical Reviews, 2016
- Enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction via field-induced reagent concentrationNature, 2016
- New Perspectives on the Charging Mechanisms of SupercapacitorsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2016
- Ultrasensitive Electrochemical Biomolecular Detection Using Nanostructured MicroelectrodesAccounts of Chemical Research, 2014
- Fast Electron-Transfer Kinetics Probed in Nanofluidic ChannelsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2009
- Semi-ideal Solution Theory. 2. Extension to Conductivity of Mixed Electrolyte SolutionsThe Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2008
- Dynamic Diffuse Double-Layer Model for the Electrochemistry of Nanometer-Sized ElectrodesThe Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2006
- Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence 69: The Tris(2,2‘-bipyridine)ruthenium(II), (Ru(bpy)32+)/Tri-n-propylamine (TPrA) System RevisitedA New Route Involving TPrA•+ Cation RadicalsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2002