Electrochemical formation of nanostructured metal and metal oxide surfaces for electrocatalytic applications

The aims of this current research are to study the fabrication of nanostructured copper and silver electrodes using a simple potential cycling protocol that involves oxidation and reduction of the surface in an alkaline solution. The reduction of residual oxides on the surface after the modification procedure will expose freshly active sites on the surface of the metal. The simple potential cycling protocol was chosen as a means of fabricating these nanostructured materials and allows a direct study of the active sites present in the surfaces.

A number of materials are reported for the first time in this work, including the electrochemical restructuring of copper surfaces using organic additives and its effect on the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate ions and the oxygen evolution reaction (Chapter III), the spontaneous decoration of noble metals on plain copper surfaces and its effect on the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate ions (Chapter IV), the spontaneous decoration of noble metals on restructured copper surfaces and its effect on the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate ions (Chapter V) and the electrochemical restructuring of silver surfaces using phenylacetic acid and its effect on the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate ions and the oxygen evolution reaction (Chapter VI).