Fast scan voltammetry is an efficient tool to distinguish oxidative/reductive adsorp- tion/desorption from that for bulk reaction. In this work, we provide a methodology that the isotherm of oxidative/reductive adsorption desorption processes at electrode surface can be obtained using just one solution with relatively low reactant concentration, by taking the advantage of varying the potential scan rate （relative of the diffusion rate） to tune the adsorption rate and proper mathematic treatment. The methodology is demonstrated by taking acetate adsorption at Pt（lll） in acidic solution as an example. The possibility for extension of this method toward mechanistic studies of complicated electrocatalytic reactions is also given.
Hydrogen evolution reaction （HER） at polycrystalline silver electrode in 0.1 mol/L HClO4 solution is investigated by cyclic voltammetry in the temperature range of 278-333 K. We found that at electrode potential φa,app decreases with φ, while pre-exponential factor A remains nearly unchanged,which conforms well the prediction from Butler-Volmer equation. In contrast, with φ nega-tive shifts from the onset potential for HER to the potential of zero charge （PZC≈-0.4 V）, both Ea,app and A for HER increase （e.g., Ea,app increases from 24 kJ/mol to 32 kJ/mol）. The increase in Ea,app and A with negative shift in φ from -0.25 V to PZC is explained by the increases of both internal energy change and entropy change from reactants to the transition states, which is correlated with the change in the hydrogen bond network during HER. The positive entropy effects overcompensate the adverse effect from the increase in the activation energy, which leads to a net increase in HER current with the activation energy negative shift from the onset potential of HER to PZC. It is pointed out that entropy change may contribute greatly to the kinetics for electrode reaction which involves the transfer of electron and proton, such as HER.
