Cathodic Corrosion at the Bismuth
By Medina-Ramos, Jonnathan; Zhang, Weiwei; Yoon, Kichul; Bai, Peng; Chemburkar, Ashwin; Tang, Wenjie; Atifi, Abderrahman; Lee, Sang Soo; Fister, Timothy T.; Ingram, Brian J.; Rosenthal, Joel; Neurock, Matthew; van Duin, Adri C. T.; Fenter, Paul
Published in Chemistry of Materials
Abstract
Bismuth electrodes undergo distinctive electrochemically induced structural changes in nonaqueous imidazolium ([Im]+)-based ionic liquid solutions under cathodic polarization. In situ X-ray reflectivity (XR) studies have been undertaken to probe well-ordered Bi (001) films which originally contain a native Bi2O3 layer. This oxide layer gets reduced to Bi0 during the first cyclic voltammetry (CV) scan in acetonitrile solutions containing 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium ([BMIM]+) electrolytes. Approximately 60% of the Bi (001) Bragg peak reflectivity is lost during a potential sweep between ?1.5 and ?1.9 V vs Ag/AgCl due to a ? 4