Gold autodeactivation during oxygen electroreduction studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

The deactivation of a polycryst. Au electrode is obsd. during O electroredn. reaction (ORR) in basic medium. At that, the cause of the process is chem. decompn. of the ORR intermediate and blocking of active sites of the electrode surface by hydroxyl radical-like species. The deactivation mechanism is discussed