Electrochemical reactivity regarding proton reduction was studied at epitaxially grown Pd monolayers and sub-monolayers (nano-islands) on Au(111) surface in 0.1 M HClO4 solution. Palladium was deposited on Au(111), using potentiostatic pulses and sweeps. The samples were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and scanning tunneling microscopy, their activity was investigated by measuring the proton reduction rate using galvanostatic pulses. The rate of hydrogen evolution increases with decreasing numbers of layers by about a factor of three, and it is considerably higher by up to a factor of ten for sub-monolayers, i.e. the fewer Pd islands are on the surface the higher is their catalytic activity. No clear dependence of the reactivity on the ratio of Pd edge atoms to terrace atoms was found. The enhanced reactivity in the case of sub-monolayer was attributed to the spillover of hydrogen from the Pd nano-islands to the Au(111) substrate.
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Electrochemical reactivity regarding proton reduction was studied at epitaxially grown Pd monolayers and sub-monolayers (nano-islands) on Au(111) surface in 0.1 M HClO4 solution. Palladium was deposited on Au(111), using potentiostatic pulses and sweeps. The samples were characterized by cyclic voltammetry and scanning tunneling microscopy, their activity was investigated by measuring the proton reduction rate using galvanostatic pulses. The rate of hydrogen evolution increases with decreasing n...
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