Three Phase Interfaces at Electrified Metal-Solid Electrolyte Systems 1. Study of the Pt(hkl)-Nafion Interface

A voltammetric fingerprinting approach has been used to probe the nature of Pt-Nafion three phase interfaces for Pt(hkl) and polycrystalline platinum surfaces. Nature of adsorbing species is identified as the sulfonate anions via CO charge displacement technique. The affinity for the sulfonate anions to adsorb on the electrode surface is investigated. Adsorption strength of the sulfonate anions with the electrode surface is compared with other strongly adsorbing anions such as (hi) sulfates and chlorides. Various factors that influence the adsorption properties of the sulfonate anions are studied. Nature and strength of the anion interaction with various surface geometries is also discussed. A physical model is presented to describe the observed phenomena.