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Catalysis

Understanding entropic barriers

The activation barriers of interfacial energy conversion reactions are key to controlling the efficiency of electrolysers. Work on the structural dynamics of water during charge transfer at electrified solid/liquid interfaces now brings greater understanding of the components of the activation barriers for water dissociation and hydrogen evolution.

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Fig. 1: Compensation effect as a limiting factor for water dissociation and for electrocatalytic reactions in an electrolyser with a bipolar membrane.

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Correspondence to Aleksandar R. Zeradjanin.

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Zeradjanin, A.R. Understanding entropic barriers. Nat Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01502-0

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