Oxidation of hydrogen on palladium: Chemicurrents in the Schottky nanodiode

Abstract

The oxidation of hydrogen on palladium was studied by the chemicurrents method using the nanosized catalytic Pd/n-Si Schottky diode. The chemicurrent was found to be generated when the reactions H₂+O₂ and H + O + H₂ + O₂ occurred on the palladium surface, occasionally in the auto-oscillation mode. A model was created that describes the complex kinetic behavior of the reaction. Mathematical modeling was performed and showed the possibility of complex auto-oscillations of chemicurrent similar to those obtained in experiments. The catalytic Schottky nanodiode method was shown to be effective for reaction visualization and can be used as a new physical method for investigating the chemical processes on the catalyst surface.