Oxygen reduction reaction on carbon-supported CoSe₂ nanoparticles in an acidic medium

We investigated the effect of CoSe₂/C nanoparticle loading rate on oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and H₂O₂ production using the rotating disk electrode and the rotating ring-disk electrode techniques. We prepared carbon-supported CoSe₂ nanoparticles with different nominal loading rates and evaluated these samples by means of powder X-ray diffraction. All the catalysts had an OCP value of 0.81 V vs. RHE. H₂O₂ production during the ORR process decreased with an increase in catalytic layer thickness. This decrease was related to the CoSe₂ loading on the disk electrode. H₂O₂ production also decreased with increasing catalytic site density, a phenomenon related to the CoSe₂ loading rate on the carbon substrate. The cathodic current density significantly increased with increasing catalytic layer thickness, but decreased with increasing catalytic site density. In the case of 20 wt% CoSe₂/C nanoparticles at 22 μg cm^-2, we determined that the transfer process involves about 3.5 electrons.