Enhancing hydrogen bubble release from a microelectrode through precise tuning of Marangoni forces with nonionic surfactant.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Lu, Xinlong; Nie, Tengfei; Yadav, Devendra; Li, Xiaoping; Zhang, Yiming; Ma, Lijing; Jing, Dengwei
- Source
- Physics of Fluids. Jan2024, Vol. 36 Issue 1, p1-15. 15p.
- Subject
- *NONIONIC surfactants
*WATER electrolysis
*SURFACE tension
*BUBBLE dynamics
*HYDROGEN
*BUBBLES
*MICROELECTRODES
- Language
- ISSN
- 1070-6631
Understanding and controlling hydrogen bubble growth and detachment during water electrolysis is crucial for improving its efficiency. This study investigates bubble dynamics for hydrogen evolution on a platinum microelectrode in an acidic electrolyte with different gas/electrolyte surface tensions by adding varying surfactant concentrations. Three hydrogen bubble evolution patterns were observed: periodic detachment of individual bubbles at low surfactant concentrations of 0 and 1 × 10−7 M, respectively; one or two small bubbles are formed at the foot of the bubble during the evolution of single main bubble at intermediate surfactant concentrations of 1 × 10−6 and 1 × 10−5 M; and periodic detachment of large bubbles with aperiodic release of tiny bubbles at higher surfactant concentrations of 1 × 10−4 M. The concentration Marangoni force on individual H2 bubbles decreases significantly with surfactant concentration. This results in shorter evolution cycles from 138.12 to 6.98 s at −0.6 V vs the saturated calomel electrode, reduced detachment radii from 765.95 to 359.54 μm at −0.6 VSCE, and accelerated hydrogen bubble growth. This finding offers a new way to control bubble dynamics during electrochemical bubble formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]