On the Nature of Voltammetric Signals Originating from Hydrogen Electrosorption into Palladium-Noble Metal Alloys

Abstract

Hydrogen sorption/desorption signals observed on cyclic voltammograms in experiments on hydrogen electrosorption into Pd-noble metal alloys (Pd-Au, Pd-Pt, Pd-Rh, Pd-Ru, Pd-Pt-Rh, Pd-Pt-Au) were characterized. The influence of electrosorption potential, scan rate and alloy bulk composition on the features of the hydrogen peaks was investigated. The experimental results were compared with those obtained on the basis of a model taken from the literature. It was confirmed that the rate of the α-β phase transition controls the overall rate of the process of hydrogen absorption/desorption into/from thin Pd-based electrodes. It was demonstrated that from the analysis of the changes of the hydrogen oxidation peak potential with the hydrogen electrosorption potential in cyclic voltammetric experiments it is possible to determine the limiting Pd bulk content, below which the β-phase in the alloy-hydrogen system is not formed.