There is a wide class of electrochemical systems which present a sudden transition from a high to a low reaction rate region in function of an external parameter. This sudden transition is accompanied by the growth of a surface structure responsible for deactivation of the process. Analysing a simple phenomenological model of a generic surface process shows that the growth of this deactivating structure implies a hysteresis according a forward and reverse scan in the external control parameter. Application to water electrolysis, metal passivation and ethylene oxidation on Rh/TiO2/YSZ under open-circuit and under electrochemical promotion is discussed.
Duncan Thomas Lindsay Alexander, Bernat Mundet, Jean-Marc Triscone
Michael Graetzel, Dan Ren, Yelin Hu, Jun Li, Reza Zamani, Xiaoyan Wang, Ziyun Wang, Yi Xu
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