Tailoring the Electrocatalytic Activity and Selectivity of Pt(111) through Cathodic Corrosion

Developing active and selective electrocatalysts is of prime importance in shifting society toward utilizing renewable energy sources. Such developments often require catalysts with particular morphologies because many chemical reactions are sensitive to the catalyst structure. However, it can be challenging to synthesize and stabilize shape-controlled catalysts. It would therefore be desirable to tailor the morphology of an existing electrocatalyst to exhibit favorable catalytic properties. In this work, such morphological alteration is explored using cathodic corrosion: an electrochemical etching process that can generate geometrical shapes on metallic surfaces. Specifically, cathodic corrosion is utilized to tailor a well-defined Pt(111) electrode for oxygen reduction and glycerol oxidation catalysis. Both the oxygen reduction activity and the glycerol oxidation selectivity can be tailored by controlling the cathodic corrosion conditions. These results demonstrate the specific potential of cathodic corrosion for tailoring catalyst activity and selectivity.