World Class University (WCU) Program of Chemical Convergence for Energy &Environment (C2E2), School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Gwanak-ku, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
Department of Life Science, University of Seoul, Dongdaemun-ku, Seoul 130-743, Republic of Korea.
Sci Rep. 2016 Dec 9;6:38847. doi: 10.1038/srep38847.
In situ monitoring of electrode materials reveals detailed physicochemical transition in electrochemical device. The key challenge is to explore the localized features of electrode surfaces, since the performance of an electrochemical device is determined by the summation of local architecture of the electrode material. Adaptive in situ techniques have been developed for numerous investigations; however, they require restricted measurement environments and provide limited information, which has impeded their widespread application. In this study, we realised an optics-based electrochemical in situ monitoring system by combining a dark-field micro/spectroscopy with an electrochemical workstation to investigate the physicochemical behaviours of Pt catalyst. We found that the localized plasmonic trait of a Pt-decorated Au nanoparticle as a model system varied in terms of its intensity and wavelength during the iterations of a cyclic voltammetry test. Furthermore, we show that morphological and compositional changes of the Pt catalyst can be traced in real time using changes in quantified plasmonic characteristics, which is a distinct advantage over the conventional electrochemistry-based in situ monitoring systems. These results indicate the substantial promise of online operando observation in a wide range of electrical energy conversion systems and electrochemical sensing areas.
原位监测电极材料揭示电化学器件中详细的物理化学转变。关键的挑战是探索电极表面的局部特征，因为电化学器件的性能取决于电极材料的局部结构的总和。已经开发了自适应原位技术来进行许多研究；然而，它们需要受限的测量环境并提供有限的信息，这阻碍了它们的广泛应用。在这项研究中，我们通过将暗场微/光谱学与电化学工作站相结合，实现了基于光学的电化学原位监测系统，以研究 Pt 催化剂的物理化学行为。我们发现，作为模型系统的 Pt 修饰的 Au 纳米颗粒的局部等离子体特性在循环伏安测试的迭代过程中其强度和波长都发生了变化。此外，我们表明，使用量化等离子体特性的变化可以实时跟踪 Pt 催化剂的形态和组成变化，这与传统的基于电化学的原位监测系统相比具有明显的优势。这些结果表明，在广泛的电能转换系统和电化学传感领域中进行在线操作观察具有很大的应用潜力。
