Ideal gas reference for association/dissociation reactions: Concentration bias and kinetic reference voltage/potentials in electrolysis.

The water electrolysis reaction involves a large kinetic overvoltage, and considerable research efforts are currently devoted to the search for better electrocatalysts. It is commonly expected that, at least, in principle, an ideal electrocatalyst would enable significant reaction rates close to the equilibrium voltage. In the present work, we question this expectation.

Thermodynamic explanation of the universal correlation between oxygen evolution activity and corrosion of oxide catalysts.

In recent years, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has attracted increased research interest due to its crucial role in electrochemical energy conversion devices for renewable energy applications. The vast majority of OER catalyst materials investigated are metal oxides of various compositions. The experimental results obtained on such materials strongly suggest the existence of a fundamental and universal correlation between the oxygen evolution activity and the corrosion of metal oxides.