Enhanced catalytic reduction of oxygen at tantalum deposited platinum electrode.

A tantalum deposited platinum electrode that offers an enhanced catalytic four-electron reduction of oxygen over the bare platinum electrode in acidic solution is explored.

Electrochemical, HPLC and electrospray ionization mass spectroscopic analyses of peroxycitric acid coexisting with citric acid and hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution.

We successfully determined the molecular structure of peroxycitric acid (PCA) coexisting in the aqueous equilibrium mixture with citric acid (CA; 1,2,3-tricarboxylic-2-hydroxy propane) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) by a combined use of reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC), potentiometric, hydrodynamic chronocoulometric (HCC) and electrospray ionization mass spectroscopic (ESI-MS) methods. Firstly, the RP-HPLC was employed to separate CA, PCA and H(2)O(2) coexisting in the equilibrium mixture and the concentration of CA consumed (DeltaC(CA)) in the formation of PCA that was evidenced to be fairly stable during the RP-HPLC measurement was quantitatively measured based on the standard calibration curve of CA. Secondly, the total oxidant concentration (C(Ox)) corresponding to peroxycarboxylic (-COOOH) group in PCA in the equilibrium mixture was determined using potentiometric measurement.