Issue 16, 2022

Oscillatory patterns in redox gradient materials through wireless bipolar electrochemistry. The dynamic wave-like case of copper bipolar oxidation

Abstract

Bipolar electrochemistry allows the development of processes in a wireless manner, with reactions occurring at the induced anodes and cathodes of an immersed conducting material in the electrolyte. As a result, a gradient oxidation state may appear along the main axis field on the surface or bulk of the material depending on the type of reaction available at each induced potential. Redox intercalation gradients have been observed, metal anodization, or deposition, and also reactions at the electrolyte in the nearby environment of the poles induced. The complex oxidation of copper and interconversion between phases formed yields in this work an oscillating redox gradient, thanks to the great resistance change when the oxidized phases are formed. Parallel stripes containing mainly Cu2O, CuO, and Cu(OH)2 with large resistance are formed perpendicular to the electric field, forming a sequence of secondary dipoles in intermediate Cu stripes, that depends on the external voltage applied, and that oscillates in time at the same spatial coordinates. With longer times, copper solubilizes at the larger induced potential zones, probably as Cu(OH)42−. A simple finite element electrostatic model defines the complex potential waves induced in the piece. The resulting dynamics offer an example of the complexity of order in unwired conducting materials in wet media, either in catalysis, bioelectrodes, electronics, photovoltaics, or energy storage.

Graphical abstract: Oscillatory patterns in redox gradient materials through wireless bipolar electrochemistry. The dynamic wave-like case of copper bipolar oxidation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
23 May 2022
Accepted
14 Jul 2022
First published
14 Jul 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Chem. Front., 2022,6, 2284-2296

Oscillatory patterns in redox gradient materials through wireless bipolar electrochemistry. The dynamic wave-like case of copper bipolar oxidation

L. Fuentes-Rodríguez, E. Pujades, J. Fraxedas, A. Crespi, K. Xu, L. Abad and N. Casañ-Pastor, Mater. Chem. Front., 2022, 6, 2284 DOI: 10.1039/D2QM00482H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements