Crystallographic facet and alkali metal cation dependent glycerol electrooxidation on polycrystalline Pd probed by SECCM

• Glycerol is considered an important platform chemical for value-added organic chemical synthesis. The electrooxidation of glycerol in aqueous media provides a facile synthesis method to generate chemicals important for pharmaceutical and medical industries. Therefore, critical knowledge regarding the most active catalysts for the glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GEOR) is necessary for such a process to be viable. The GEOR on noble metals is well studied but there are significant gaps in the literature regarding the activity of specific crystal facets, particularly in the case of Pd. Through SECCM electrochemical mapping correlated with EBSD mapping to identify grain orientations, a much larger picture of the GEOR on Pd catalysts can be formed. Here, the facet dependent activity for the GEOR on Pd, evaluated through cyclic voltammetry using SECCM with co-located EBSD, is reported for the first time in alkaline solutions of KOH, NaOH and LiOH at pH 13. NaOH is shown to result in the highest performance for the GEOR and for all three electrolytes, Pd (111) provides the highest activity, Pd (001) provides intermediate to high activity and that Pd (101) is the least active. The facet dependent activity for the GEOR is directly mirrored for Pd oxidation and the subsequent PdO reduction process. Suggesting these two processes are signifiers towards catalytic activity for the GEOR.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

glycerol

oxidation

palladium

SECCM

EBSD

Kemi

Chemistry

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vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)