Hot Electrons at Solid–Liquid Interfaces: A Large Chemoelectric Effect during the Catalytic Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

The study of energy and charge transfer during chemical reactions on metals is of great importance for understanding the phenomena involved in heterogeneous catalysis. Despite extensive studies, very little is known about the nature of hot electrons generated at solid–liquid interfaces. Herein, we report remarkable results showing the detection of hot electrons as a chemicurrent generated at the solid–liquid interface during decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) catalyzed on Schottky nanodiodes. The chemicurrent reflects the activity of the catalytic reaction and the state of the catalyst in real time. We show that the chemicurrent yield can reach values up to 10¢1 electrons/O2 molecule, which is notably higher than that for solid–gas reactions on similar nanodiodes. (c) 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim