Relationships between Atomic Level Surface Structure and Stability/Activity of Platinum Surface Atoms in Aqueous Environments

The development of alternative energy systems for the clean production, storage, and conversion of energy is strongly dependent on our ability to understand, at atomic molecular levels, the functional links between the activity and stability of electrochemical interfaces. Whereas structure–activity relationships are rapidly evolving, the corresponding structure–stability relationships are still missing. This is primarily because there is no adequate experimental approach capable of monitoring the stability of well-defined single crystals in situ. Here, by utilizing the power of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) connected to a stationary probe and coupling this technique to the rotating disk electrode method, it was possible to simultaneously measure the dissolution rates of surface atoms (as low as 0.4 pg cm–2 s–1) and correlate them with the kinetic rates of electrochemical reactions in real time. Making use of this unique probe, it was possible to establish almost “atom by atom” stru...