Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Analytical methods

Mass spec live

Nature Catalysis volume 5, pages 1077–1078 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

High current densities during CO2 reduction in gas diffusion electrode (GDE) flow cells are incompatible with present online product-profiling methods. With the adaptation of proton-transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry, operando mechanistic information on C1–C4 product formation at copper-based GDEs is now accessible.

The utilization of PTR-TOF-MS in CO2R investigations is a welcome addition to the extremely limited arsenal of operando methods3 that can interrogate the electrode–electrolyte boundary while the catalyst is at work. The term ‘operando’ is crucial in the catalysis community, whose efforts are generally hinged on structure–composition–activity correlations as a rational guide for catalyst design and performance optimization. The most elusive of these correlations are derived from measurements obtained at applied potentials while current is flowing through the electrocatalytic surface. Pre- and post-catalysis information do not necessarily depict accurately the electrified interface, especially when an air-sensitive catalytic surface is devoid of its native electrolytic environment. Operando methods are meant to capture the temporal aspect of the characteristics of a catalyst — a snapshot in time while it is actually in operation4 — not when it is removed from the reaction (for example, ex situ) or when subjected to contrived conditions that purportedly mimic the catalytic process. Many in situ methods would fall under the latter category, especially after the optimal conditions for catalytic performance had become widely known or accepted. Notably, a protocol can be self-declared ‘operando’ within a limited set of parameters; the more relevant issue, semantics aside, is how these putative operando methodologies enrich the pool of knowledge and push the field to new frontiers.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Operando measurement of CO2 electrolysis.

References

  1. Ellis, A. M. & Mayhew, C. A. Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry: Principles and Applications. xiii (Wiley, 2014).

  2. Ren, H. et al. Nat. Catal. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00891-3 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Soriaga, M. P. et al. in Encyclopedia of Interfacial Chemistry: Surface Science and Electrochemistry (Ed. Wandelt, K.) 562–576 (Elsevier, 2018).

  4. Bañares, M. Catal. Today 100, 71–77 (2005).

  5. Baltruschat, H. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 15, 1693–1706 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wonders, A. H., Housmans, T. H. M., Rosca, V. & Koper, M. T. M. J. Appl. Electrochem. 36, 1215–1221 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Baricuatro, J. H. & Kim, Y.-G. Curr. Top. Electrochem. 21, 119–120 (2019).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Physics, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Shreveport, LA, USA

    Jack H. Baricuatro

Authors
  1. Jack H. Baricuatro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jack H. Baricuatro.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Baricuatro, J.H. Mass spec live. Nat Catal 5, 1077–1078 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00898-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-022-00898-w

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing