Understanding mechanical modulation of electrocatalytic reaction with an electrical circuit model

Strain engineering of electrocatalysts is considered as one of the most efficient strategies to enhance their electrocatalytic performance. However, to date, a mathematical model to further understand these interesting scientific phenomena has not been developed. This study theoretically investigated the effect of mechanical strain on the Faradaic process of an electrode reaction based on an equivalent electrical circuit (EEC) at the solid-liquid interface. A mathematical expression for the strain-induced current was obtained using Kirchhoff’s law as follows: we analyzed the dependence of strain-induced electrocatalysis on different elements in the EEC and determined a method to separate the reaction rate of electrocatalysis from other electrochemical processes based on different responses to strain frequencies.