Surface and electrocatalytic properties of well-defined and vicinal RuO2 single crystal faces

The kinetics of Cl-2 evolution from concentrated NaCl solutions on the (110) and (230) faces of RuO2 single crystals has been investigated by determining the Tafel slope, the stoichiometric number and the reaction orders with respect to Cl- and H+. The experimental parameters suggest that the mechanism is presumably similar to that put forward earlier by Krishtalik [51] for RuO2 layers, but a step common to oxygen evolution, like the case of polycrystalline samples, is present only with the (230) face. Reasons for this difference and for the apparent lower activity of the (110) face with respect to the (230) are discussed. A detailed analysis of the surface behavior of the two faces in Cl- free acid and alkaline solutions has also been carried out by cyclic voltammetry.