A Device for Transient Analysis of Electrochemical products by MS

A Device for Transient Analysis of Electrochemical products by MS
1st promotor: Prof. Albert van den Berg
1st supervisor and 2nd promotor: Prof. Guido Mul
2nd supervisor and co-promotor: Associate Prof. Mathieu Odijk
Affiliation: University of Twente
Research theme: Catalyst Diagnostics to Develop More Active Catalysts

This project will utilize recently developed , (photo)electrochemical microreactors which can be integrated with mass spectrometers, to analyze the mechanism of (photo)electrochemical reactions. These include cathodic reduction of CO₂ to value added products such as formate, and anodic oxidation of water to oxygen/hydrogen. Particular focus will be on the use of fast transients in applied voltage or illumination to determine reaction kinetics. Micro-valves to be developed in project 4 can be integrated in the microchip to allow transients in electrolyte composition (pH, anions, cations).

The knowledge on (photo)electrochemical reaction kinetics obtained by these transient analyses is complementary to advanced analysis of (photo)electrochemical surface compositions by In situ XPS, currently installed and soon to be utilized at the university of Eindhoven by Dr. Hofmann and Prof. Hensen, as well as other spectro-electrochemical characterization such as to be developed in project 3 based on infrared spectroscopy.

Keywords:

• Photo(electrochemistry)
• Mass spectrometry
• Transient Analysis
• Kinetics
• Mechanism