Wireless Electronic Light Emission: An Introduction to Bipolar Electrochemistry

Abstract

Electrochemistry is taught in most undergraduate chemistry programs. Although this topic is important for students due to its broad interest in industry (energy, diagnostics, car industry, etc.), they often find it difficult, because it is based on a combination of various physical concepts such as electric fields, interfacial processes or charge and mass transport. Among electrochemical concepts, bipolar electrochemistry is of special interest and might be easier to teach due to a very simple general setup. In this case, an oxidation reaction and a reduction reaction occur at the two ends of a single conductive object exposed to an electric field in solution. Such an object is therefore called a bipolar electrode. The nature of the electrochemical reactions and their amplitude can be tuned by playing with the electric field. The fundamental concepts of bipolar electrochemistry are introduced here with a series of basic experiments designed to be carried out in a standard teaching laboratory. These simple and affordable experiments illustrate the key-parameters driving electrochemical reactions at a bipolar electrode. Their influence can be readily visualized using a cheap, commercially available light emitting diode (LED) acting as the bipolar electrode, which illuminates when the current generated by the electrochemical reactions flows through it. The concept of bipolar electrochemistry with eye-catching experiments enables a good introduction to general electrochemistry. It points out the importance of fundamental aspects such as the electric field or the necessity of an electrolyte and a counter-reaction.

Wireless Light‐Emitting Electrode Arrays for the Evaluation of Electrocatalytic Activity

“…Thus, the physico-chemical information of the coupled redox reactions is directly encoded by the current passing through the LED and its concomitant light emission intensity. [40,41] The synergy between BE and this type of microelectronic light emitting devices has been studied in order to design multiple unconventional electroanalysis platforms, [42] allowing the quantification of species ranging from organic molecules [43,44] to ions [45][46][47] and enantiomers. [48,49] Herein, we take advantage of such wireless light-emitting devices to study the synergetic effect of the composition of the anode and cathode of an electrolyzer on its electrocatalytic activity towards water splitting.…”

“…By applying a high enough electric field, a flux of electrons is induced from the anode to the cathode of the microelectronic device. Thus, the physico‐chemical information of the coupled redox reactions is directly encoded by the current passing through the LED and its concomitant light emission intensity [40,41] . The synergy between BE and this type of microelectronic light emitting devices has been studied in order to design multiple unconventional electroanalysis platforms, [42] allowing the quantification of species ranging from organic molecules [43,44] to ions [45–47] and enantiomers [48,49] .…”

Synchronization of two electrochemical oscillators in a closed bipolar cell

“…Furthermore, this technique accommodates the use of electrodes at various scales, including macroscopic, microscopic, and nanoscopic levels (Sentic et al, 2015). This versatility is particularly compelling for materials modification, as it induces an asymmetrical alteration of the objects involved (de Poulpiquet et al, 2023).…”

Teaching Heterogeneous Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation with Nickel- and Cobalt-Based Catalysts Using Cyclic Voltammetry and Python Simulation

“…Although different concepts of electrochemistry are taught in courses such as general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and physical chemistry, experimental techniques of electrochemistry are not often applied in laboratory courses . Since it is challenging to provide students a comprehensive understanding of electrochemistry solely with lectures, more and more laboratory experiments and simulation tools have been developed in the past few years to promote hands-on experience in electrochemistry education. ,− Water electrolysis has recently been incorporated into the teaching laboratory curriculum as an introduction module to electrochemistry . Water electrolysis also serves as a model system for comprehending its side reactions, its implementation via photoelectrochemical (PEC) process as well as the spectroelectrochemistry technique .…”