Insight on Tafel slopes from a microkinetic analysis of aqueous electrocatalysis for energy conversion

Microkinetic analyses of aqueous electrochemistry involving gaseous H2 or O2, i.e., hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), are revisited. The Tafel slopes used to evaluate the rate determining steps generally assume extreme coverage of the adsorbed species (θ≈0 or ≈1), although, in practice, the slopes are coverage-dependent. We conducted detailed kinetic analyses describing the coverage-dependent Tafel slopes for the aforementioned reactions. Our careful analyses provide a general benchmark for experimentally observed Tafel slopes that can be assigned to specific rate determining steps. The Tafel analysis is a…

• KA
  King Abdullah University of Science and Technology