title: Development of a versatile rotating ring-disc electrode for in situ pH measurements.
abstract: There are some electrocatalytic reactions in which the key parameter explaining their behavior is a local change in pH. Therefore, it is of utter importance to develop an electrode that could quantify this parameter in situ, but also be customizable to be used in different systems. The purpose of this work is to build a versatile rotating ring/disc electrode (RRDE) with IrOx deposited on a glass tube as a ring and any kind of material as disc. As the IrOx is sensitive to pH variation, the reactions promoted on the disc can trigger proportional pH shifts on the ring. In such assembly, the IrOx ring presents a fast response time even during the pH transients due to the small thickness of the ring (approximately 10 μm), which enables the detection of interfacial pH changes. The ring electrode was tested toward the interfacial pH shift observed during the electrolytic reduction of water on the disc and also characterized by acid-base titration to determine the response time. As the main conclusions, fast response and durable RRDE were obtained, and this assembly could be used to revisit many electrocatalytic reactions in order to test the importance of local pH on the process.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Eletroquímica e Cerâmica (LIEC), Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Chemistry Dept., PO Box: 676, CEP: 13.565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexsandro Mendes
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Zimer
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Eletroquímica e Cerâmica (LIEC), Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Chemistry Dept., PO Box: 676, CEP: 13.565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Medina da Silva
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, University of São Paulo (USP), PO Box: 780, CEP: 13560-970, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eduardo G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, University of São Paulo (USP), PO Box: 780, CEP: 13560-970, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hamilton
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Varela
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Eletroquímica e Cerâmica (LIEC), Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Chemistry Dept., PO Box: 676, CEP: 13.565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: lmascaro@ufscar.br.
authors.forename: Lucia Helena
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Mascaro
authors.affiliation: Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Eletroquímica e Cerâmica (LIEC), Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Chemistry Dept., PO Box: 676, CEP: 13.565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ernesto Chaves
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Pereira
keywords: Interfacial pH measurements; Iridium oxide; Rotating ring-disc electrode; Ultramicroelectrode