Unraveling Reactions at the Metal–Oxide Gas Interface Using a Novel Spectro-Electrochemical Setup

The interaction between a metal oxide surface and its surrounding environment is central to a wide range of applications, including energy conversion (fuel and electrolysis cells), gas sensing, and heterogeneous catalysis. We have developed a novel and modular spectro-electrochemical setup to elucidate reaction mechanisms in situ. With this setup, we can directly probe surface chemical species and the associated charge-transfer processes at elevated operating temperatures under controlled gaseous environments.

Our setup enables the simultaneous measurement of infrared and UV–Vis spectroscopies along with impedance spectroscopy. This combined approach allows electronic changes resulting from adsorption and reaction intermediates to be monitored in real time. This presentation will cover results obtained on different samples under varying conditions and highlight the broad applicability of the measurement setup