Rotating Ring-Disc Electrode Method: Dissecting Oxygen Reduction Reaction Through a Different Lens

Analyzing multi-product electrochemical reactions using a quantitative feedback system, such as a rotating ring-disc electrode scheme, usually adopts a product-defined path-based view (j(H2O2), j(H2O)) to deconvolute the reaction current response. However, the product path-based analysis aborts the useful information of a process-based lens, which is so often overlooked in the one-sided analysis. This Viewpoint aims to highlight the importance of a stepwise process-based deconvolution analysis and explain its fundamental difference from a product-defined path-based dissection analysis, as well as the application in electrocatalysis research, using the oxygen reduction reaction as a classical example.