Proton donor/acceptor effects on electrochemical proton-coupled electron transfer reactions at solid-liquid interfaces

Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) plays a crucial role in several electrochemical reactions at the solid-liquid interface, and proton donor/acceptor should be the important component participating in these electrode processes, since species and proton transfer pathway of proton donor/acceptor are of great significance in tuning PCET electrode reactions. Herein, a review on effects of proton donor/acceptor on several typical electrocatalytical reactions is given, mainly focusing on species of proton donor/acceptor, including concentration, pKa and steric hindrance, specifically, proton transfer pathway arising from strategy of ligand design of molecular catalyst and modification of electrode-electrolyte interface is presented.