Hello all seniors.
I have encountered some problems during my experiments dealing with OER reactions, I have assembled a small electrocatalytic reactor for OER reactions under alkaline conditions. During a given voltage, I found that the bubbles at the electrode interface keep generating as the voltage increases and the current suddenly decreases by three orders of magnitude after completely covering the electrode interface. Is there some simple way to deal off this part of bubbles without affecting the electrode evaluation process.
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, this is a real problem when you collect CV or LSV data. You can try to significantly decrease the electrode surface area. If you are doing the electrolysis at constant potential, you need to arrange an aggressive stirring of solution near the electrode. If you use a magnetic stirrer, position your reaction where the stirring bar touch the electrode. The stirring bar will hit your electrode and helps to remove bubbles.
Thank Prof. Yurii V Geletii for your reply.
As you said, we did try to keep the bubbles away from the electrode surface by rotating the magnet near the electrode during the test, and this is an accepted and practical method. However, maybe we failed to do it properly and some small bubbles (about a quarter of the working electrode area) were also generated near the electrode and adhered to the outer Teflon material during this period, which would affect the evaluation of the OER activity of the electrode?
The bubbles "adhered to the outer Teflon material" do not block the electrode surface. However,don't forget about deltaE =60*Log([O2]/[H2O]) If you are not measuring O2-yield, purge the solution by Ar or N2 in the process of electrolysis.
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