Volcano plots in hydrogen electrocatalysis – uses and abuses

• Paola Quaino,
• Fernanda Juarez,
• Elizabeth Santos and
• Wolfgang Schmickler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 846–854, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.96

• good catalyst. Keywords: electrocatalysis; hydrogen evolution; Sabatier’s principle; volcano curve; Introduction Sabatier’s principle [1] is one of the oldest rules in catalysis. For a two-step reaction passing through an adsorbed intermediate, like the hydrogen reaction, it states that the

• of adsorption of hydrogen from solution should be close to zero. If Sabatier’s principle is the only factor that governs a reaction, a plot of the reaction rate versus the free energy of adsorption of the intermediate results in a volcano curve. Starting from a high, positive (endergonic) energy of

• catalysis is scarce. In electrochemistry, Gerischer [2] and Parsons [3][4] were the first to point out that certain models for the hydrogen reaction predicted a volcano-like curve. However, it was Trasatti [5] who collected experimental data and constructed the first volcano curve for hydrogen evolution