title: Fabrication of noble-metal catalysts with a desired surface wettability and their applications in deciphering multiphase reactions.
abstract: Noble-metal Pd and Pt catalysts with a wide range of surface wettability were fabricated through an electrochemical approach and were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The importance of surface wettability of solid catalysts in multiphase reactions-especially their correlation to the nature of the studied chemical system-was investigated by reducing oxygen in an alkaline solution and oxidizing hydrogen peroxide and sodium formate in alkaline or buffered solutions at the as-prepared catalysts. These experiments illustrate that the nature of a multiphase reaction plays a critical role in determining the influence of surface wettability on the catalyst performance, providing a unique approach to decipher the reaction process. The investigation allows us to gain new insights into the electrochemical oxidation of sodium formate.
authors.affiliation: Nano-materials and Chemistry Key Laboratory, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325027, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Demeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Huile
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Weiming
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Aiping
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Tiandi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Jichang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang