PNNL

Abstract

A variety of energy processes utilize the electrochemical interconversions of dioxygen and water, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Reported here are the first estimates of the equilibrium reduction potential of the O2 + 4e– + 4H+ 2H2O couple in organic solvents. The values are +1.21 V in acetonitrile (MeCN) and +0.60 V in dimethylformamide (DMF), each versus the ferrocenium/ferrocene couple (Fc+/0) in the respective solvent (as are all the potentials reported here). The potentials have been determined using a thermochemical cycle that combines the free energy for transferring water from aqueous solution to organic solvent, -0.43 kcal mol-1 for MeCN and -1.47 kcal mol-1 for DMF, and the potential of the H+/H2 couple, –0.028 V in MeCN and –0.662 V in DMF. The H+/H2 couple in DMF has been directly measured electrochemically, using the previously reported procedure for the MeCN value. The thermochemical approach used for the O2/H2O couple can also be extended to the CO2/CO and CO2/CH4 couples to give values of -0.12 V and +0.15 V in MeCN, and -0.73 V and -0.48 V in DMF. Extensions to other reduction potentials are discussed. Additionally, the free energy for transfer of protons from water to organic solvent is roughly estimated as +14 kcal mol-1 for acetonitrile and +0.6 kcal mol-1 for dimethylformamide. This research was supported as part of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.