The temperature dependence of hydrogen evolution reaction （HER） at a quasi-single crystalline gold electrode in both 0.1 mol/L HCl04 and 0.1 mol/L KOH solutions was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. HER current displays a clear increase with reaction overpotential （η） and temperature from 278-333 K. In 0.1 mol/L HClO4 the Tafel slopes are found to increases slightly with temperature from 118 mV/dec to 146 mV/dec, while in 0.1 mol/L KOH it is ca. 153±15 mV/dec without clear temperature-dependent trend. The apparent activation energy （Ea） for HER at equilibrium potential is ca. 48 and 34 kJ/mol in 0.1 mol/L HC104 and 0.1 mol/L KOH, respectively. In acid solution, Ea decreases with increase in η, from Ea-37 kJ/mol （η=0.2 V） to 30 kJ/mol （η=0.35 V）. In contrast, in 0.1 mol/L KOH, Ea does not show obvious change with U. The pre-exponential factor （A） in 0.1 mol/L HC104 is ca. 1 order higher than that in 0.1 mol/L KOH. Toward more negative potential, in 0.1 mol/L HC104 A changes little with potential, while in 0.1 mol/L KOH it displays a monotonic increase with U. The change trends of the potential-dependent kinetic parameters for HER at Au electrode in 0.1 mol/L HClO4 and that in 0.1 mol/L KOH are discussed.
The electrochemical and the mass transport behavior of ABTS2-/ABTS＇- （2,2＇-azinobis（3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate）） redox couple at glassy carbon electrode （GCE） in phos- phate buffer solution （PBS, pH=4.4） is studied in detail by cyclic voltammetry combined with rotating disk electrode system. From the i-E curves recorded at different electrode rotating rate, rate constant, and transfer coefficient for ABTS 2-←→ABTS^-＋e reaction at GCE electrode and the diffusion coefficient of ABTS2- in PBS are estimated to be 4.6× 10^-3 cm/s, 0.28, and 4.4× 10^-6 cm^2/s, respectively. The transfer coefficient with a value of ca. 0.28 differs largely from the value of 0.5 that is always assumed in the literature. The origins for the difference of the rate constant determined and the challenges for estimating the stan- dard rate constant are discussed. The performance for such ABTS2- mediated bio-cathode toward oxygen reduction reaction is discussed according to the over-potential drop as well as current output limit associated with the charge transfer kinetics of ABTS2- ←→ABTS-＋e redox reaction and/or the mass transport effect.
