Abstract
Electrochemical atomic force microscopy (EC-AFM) enables measurement of electrode topography and mechanical properties during electrochemical reactions. However, for aqueous-based reactions that make gas products, such as CO2 reduction and water splitting into CO/H2, current densities below 1 mA cm-2 have been necessary to prevent formation of bubbles at the electrode; such bubbles can stick to the AFM probe and prevent further AFM imaging. Here, we demonstrate a novel cell design with a gas-diffusion electrode (GDE) to exhaust the gas products, thereby enabling high current density EC-AFM measurements at 1, 10, and 100 mA cm-2 that are not disturbed by bubble formation at the electrode surface. These experiments revealed a stable morphological structure of Cu catalysts deposited on GDEs during high current density operation. Systematic spatially resolved maps of deformation and adhesion showed no signs of a gas-liquid interface between catalyst particles of the GDE.
Original language | American English |
---|---|
Article number | 044505 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of the Electrochemical Society |
Volume | 168 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited.
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/JA-5900-78258
Keywords
- atomic force microscopy
- CO2 reduction
- electrochemical
- electrolysis
- gas diffusion electrode
- high current density