How to Minimise Hydrogen Evolution on Carbon Based Materials?
EC-MS screening of seven commercial carbon materials identifies metal impurity content as the primary driver of hydrogen evolution — carbons with low metal contamination show the lowest HER rates, with onset at −0.38 V vs RHE. A practical finding for suppressing parasitic HER in CO₂ reduction, battery, and supercapacitor systems.
Local reaction environment for selective electroreduction of carbon monoxide
Local OH⁻ concentration near the cathode surface is shown to drive acetate formation via a homogeneous solution reaction, enabling up to 50% acetate faradaic efficiency within a >90% total C2+ selectivity. CO2 capture rate serves as a simple proxy for local pH in GDE-based CO reduction, linking both local pH and CO availability to C2+ product distribution.
Transients in Electrochemical CO Reduction Explained by Mass Transport of Buffers
EC-MS reveals short-lived methane and hydrogen transients during pulsed CO reduction in phosphate buffer — absent in borate buffer. The effect is attributed to phosphate acting as a facile proton donor that depletes locally, supported by mass transport modelling, and highlights buffer identity as a key lever for proton-coupled electroreduction selectivity.
Electroreduction of NO3− on tubular porous Ti electrodes
Tubular porous Ti electrodes convert nitrate to ammonia with 58% faradaic efficiency and −33 mA cm⁻² partial current density, rising to −75 mA cm⁻² with inert gas flow through the hollow fiber wall. EC-MS additionally identifies hydroxylamine, NO, and N₂O as byproducts — pointing toward a viable route for agricultural nitrate recycling.
The low overpotential regime of acidic water oxidation part I: the importance of O2 detection
EC-MS extends OER activity measurement on Ru-based catalysts across six orders of magnitude down to 1.30 V_RHE — revealing a previously unobserved Tafel slope of 25 mV dec⁻¹ below 1.4 V. A microkinetic model fits the expanded dataset, and the results show how onset potential and exchange current density are artefacts of detector sensitivity.
Quantitative Operando Detection of Electro Synthesized Ammonia Using Mass Spectrometry
A chip-based EC-MS setup with 22 eV selective ionisation enables operando ammonia detection down to a few pmol s⁻¹ in both aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes. Faradaic efficiency of 49±3% is demonstrated at ambient pressure, and continued ammonia production after lithium electroplating termination is observed — offering a mechanistic explanation for efficiency gains seen under dynamic cycling conditions.
Avoiding MS‐Signal Fluctuations Caused by Bubbles
EC-MS Technical Note #5: step-by-step QMS peak and EM voltage tuning in PV MassSpec, with signal examples from a well-tuned system.
Setting up ion‐gauge interlock
EC-MS Technical Note #5: step-by-step QMS peak and EM voltage tuning in PV MassSpec, with signal examples from a well-tuned system.
Soft ionization
EC-MS Technical Note #5: step-by-step QMS peak and EM voltage tuning in PV MassSpec, with signal examples from a well-tuned system.
Non-aqueous chip performance
EC-MS Technical Note #4: how non-aqueous chips perform in IPA, THF, and KOH — CV and chronopotentiometry comparisons against standard chips.