BUBBLES ON ELECTRODES? NOT A PROBLEM

Research shows they can speed up chemical processes. Australian researchers say in

Nature Communications they have shown that the formation of bubbles on electrodes – usually thought to be a hindrance – can, in fact, be beneficial.

Simone Ciampi from Curtin University, which led the project, says many industrial processes are electrochemical, meaning the desired chemical reaction to create an end product is assisted by the flow of electrical currents.

Using fluorescence microscopy, electrochemistry and multi-scale modelling, the team showed that in the vicinity of bubbles that stick to an electrode surface, valuable chemical reactions occur under conditions where normally such reactions would be considered impossible.

“We’ve learned that surface bubbles can actually speed up electrochemical reactions where small molecules are joined to form large networks of molecules in a polymer, like in camera films or display devices like glucose sensors for blood sugar monitoring,” says Curtin’s Yan Vogel.