Copyright © 2011 Georgios D. Papakonstantinou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The core subject of the present paper represents the interrelated spillover (effusion) phenomena both of the primary oxide and the H-adatoms, their theory and practice, causes, appearances and consequences, and evidences of existence, their specific properties, and their alterpolar equilibria and kinetic behavior, structural, and resulting catalytic, and double layer charging features. The aim is to introduce electron conductive and d-d interactive individual and composite (mixed valence) hypo-d-oxide compounds, of increased altervalent capacity, or their suboxides (Magnéli phases), as the interactive catalytic supports and therefrom provide (i) the strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) catalytic effect and (ii) dynamic spillover interactive transfer of primary oxides (M-OH) and free effusional H-adatoms for further electrode reactions and thereby advance the overall electrocatalytic activity. Since hypo-d-oxides feature the exchange membrane properties, the higher the altervalent capacity, the higher the spillover effect. In fact, altervalent hypo-d-oxides impose spontaneous dissociative adsorption of water molecules and then spontaneously pronounced membrane spillover transferring properties instantaneously resulting with corresponding bronze type (Pt/H_xWO₃) under cathodic and/or its hydrated state (Pt/W(OH)₆), responsible for Pt-OH effusion, under anodic polarization, this way establishing instantaneous reversibly revertible alterpolar bronze features (Pt/H_0.35WO₃ Pt/W(OH)₆) and substantially advanced electrocatalytic properties of these composite interactive electrocatalysts. Such nanostructured-type electrocatalysts, even of mixed-valence hypo-d-oxide structures (Pt/H_0.35WO₃/TiO₂/C, Pt/H_xNbO₃/TiO₂/C), have for the first time been synthesized by the sol-gel methods and shown rather high stability, electron conductivity, and nonexchanged initial pure monobronze spillover and catalytic properties. Such a unique electrocatalytic system, as the striking target issue of the present paper, has been shown to be the superior for substantiation of the revertible cell assembly for spontaneous reversible alterpolar interchanges between PEMFC and WE. The main target of the present thorough review study has been to throw some specific insight light on the overall spillover phenomena and their effects in electrocatalysis of oxygen and hydrogen electrode reactions from diverse angles of view and broad contemporary experimental methods and approaches (XPS, FTIR, DRIFT, XRD, potentiodynamic spectra, UHRTEM).