Ion solvation kinetics in bipolar membranes and at electrolyte–metal interfaces

Carlos G. Rodellar, José M. Gisbert-Gonzalez, Francisco Sarabia, Beatriz Roldan Cuenya and Sebastian Z. Oener ()
Additional contact information
Carlos G. Rodellar: Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
José M. Gisbert-Gonzalez: Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
Francisco Sarabia: Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
Beatriz Roldan Cuenya: Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society
Sebastian Z. Oener: Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society

Nature Energy, 2024, vol. 9, issue 5, 548-558

Abstract: Abstract Ion (de)solvation at solid–electrolyte interfaces is pivotal for energy and chemical conversion technology, such as (electro)catalysis, batteries and bipolar membranes. For example, during the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction in alkaline media, water needs to be dissociated and hydroxide ions solvated—a process that is not well understood. Here we study water dissociation and ion solvation kinetics in isolation at polymeric bipolar membrane and electrolyte–metal interfaces. We discover bias-dependent relationships between the activation entropy and enthalpy, which we link to a bias-dependent dispersion of interfacial capacitance. Furthermore, our results indicate that OH− solvation is kinetically slower than H+ solvation and that the solvation kinetics display characteristics that are independent of the catalyst structure. We attribute this to a universal amount of excess charge needed to induce electric fields that alter the interfacial entropy of water. Of fundamental interest, these results are critical to enable knowledge-driven bipolar membrane and electrocatalyst design.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01484-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natene:v:9:y:2024:i:5:d:10.1038_s41560-024-01484-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/nenergy/

DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01484-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Energy is currently edited by Fouad Khan

More articles in Nature Energy from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().