R-006

Jay Wadhawan

j.wadhawan@hull.ac.uk

Nathan S. Lawrence

The University of Hull, United Kingdom

Are Redox Catalytic Reaction Rates Accelerated in Microdroplets on Electrode Surfaces?

The remarkable discovery that, when a plethora of chemical reactions take place within the confined environment of microdroplets (liquid reactors of, at most, microlitre volumes), the rate constant for the reaction is larger than in bulk solution, has led to the observation of reaction rate acceleration for redox catalysis initiated by heterogeneous electron transfer taking place at an electrode surface in such environments.  Given that electrochemically mediated homogeneous (photo)redox reactions (EC’ processes) are extensively employed for a sustainable industrial future (such as in solar fuel cells, carbon dioxide conversion and wastewater remediation), in point-of-practice healthcare technologies (such as blood glucose measurement), and in understanding the redox chemistry within compartmentalised biology, the occurrence of reaction rate acceleration is of major significance.

In this talk, we explore redox catalysis within droplets, and emphasise the role played by the three-phase boundary.  We demonstrate, through comparison with experimental data, that the surface-confined microdroplet environment does not empower reaction rate acceleration for redox catalysis.  Reasons for this discrepancy with literature are suggested.