“Buckets effect”in the kinetics of electrocatalytic reactions

In this study,we systematically investigated the effect of proton concentration on the kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)on Pt(111)in acidic solutions.Experimental results demonstrate a rectangular hyperbolic relationship,i.e.,the ORR current excluding the effect of other variables increases with proton concentration and then tends to a constant value.We consider that this is caused by the limitation of ORR kinetics by the trace oxygen concentration in the solution,which determines the upper limit of ORR kinetics.A model of effective concentration is further proposed for rectangular hyperbolic relationships:when the reactant concentration is high enough to reach a critical saturation concentration,the effective reactant concentration will become a constant value.This could be due to the limited concentration of a certain reactant for reactions involving more than one reactant or the limited number of active sites available on the catalyst.Our study provides new insights into the kinetics of electrocatalytic reactions,and it is important for the proper evaluation of catalyst activity and the study of structureperformance relationships.

Molecular kinetic theory of boundary slip on textured surfaces by molecular dynamics simulations

A theoretical model extended from the Frenkel-Eyring molecular kinetic theory(MKT)was applied to describe the boundary slip on textured surfaces.The concept of the equivalent depth of potential well was adopted to characterize the solid-liquid interactions on the textured surfaces.The slip behaviors on both chemically and topographically textured surfaces were investigated using molecular dynamics(MD)simulations.The extended MKT slip model is validated by our MD simulations under various situations,by constructing different complex surfaces and varying the surface wettability as well as the shear stress exerted on the liquid.This slip model can provide more comprehensive understanding of the liquid flow on atomic scale by considering the influence of the solid-liquid interactions and the applied shear stress on the nano-flow.Moreover,the slip velocity shear-rate dependence can be predicted using this slip model,since the nonlinear increase of the slip velocity under high shear stress can be approximated by a hyperbolic sine function.