Chen Qianjin, Zhao Jiao, Deng Xiaoli, Shan Yun, Peng Yu
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
J Phys Chem Lett. 2022 Jul 7;13(26):6153-6163. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01388. Epub 2022 Jun 28.
Gas bubbles are found in diverse electrochemical processes, ranging from electrolytic water splitting to chlor-alkali electrolysis, as well as photoelectrochemical processes. Understanding the intricate influence of bubble evolution on the electrode processes and mass transport is key to the rational design of efficient devices for electrolytic energy conversion and thus requires precise measurement and analysis of individual gas bubbles. In this Perspective, we review the latest advances in single-entity measurement of gas bubbles on electrodes, covering the approaches of voltammetric and galvanostatic studies based on nanoelectrodes, probing bubble evolution using scanning probe electrochemistry with spatial information, and monitoring the transient nature of nanobubble formation and dynamics with opto-electrochemical imaging. We emphasize the intrinsic and quantitative physicochemical interpretation of single gas bubbles from electrochemical data, highlighting the fundamental understanding of the heterogeneous nucleation, dynamic state of the three-phase boundary, and the correlation between electrolytic bubble dynamics and nanocatalyst activities. In addition, a brief discussion of future perspectives is presented.
在从电解水分解到氯碱电解以及光电化学过程等各种电化学过程中都会发现气泡。了解气泡演化对电极过程和传质的复杂影响，是合理设计高效电解能量转换装置的关键，因此需要对单个气泡进行精确测量和分析。在这篇综述中，我们回顾了电极上单个气泡实体测量的最新进展，涵盖基于纳米电极的伏安法和恒电流法研究方法、利用具有空间信息的扫描探针电化学探测气泡演化，以及用光电化学成像监测纳米气泡形成和动力学的瞬态特性。我们强调从电化学数据对单个气泡进行内在和定量的物理化学解释，突出对异质成核、三相边界动态状态以及电解气泡动力学与纳米催化剂活性之间相关性的基本理解。此外，还对未来展望进行了简要讨论。
