Dear Colleagues,
Is there any relation between work function and electrocatalytic activity for an electrode? In some cases, Platinum is a nice electrocatalyst, and its work function is relatively high (> 5 eV). How to understand the relation based on electron transport?
Thanks a lot.
The work function of a metal is the distance between the metal's Fermi level and the vacuum. Whenever charge transfer is involved, this is an important parameter.
It is my (limited) understanding there is no simple relation such as high WF => better catalyst, and the important parameter is the right energetic alignment between the Fermi level and the molecule that's being catalyzed.
See DOI:10.1038/343625a0 and DOI:10.1149/1.2132619 for examples
It should also be noted that Pt (and Pd) are further useful because of their chemical stability.
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