Selective Enhancement of Electrochemical Signal Based on the Size of Alcohols Using Nanoporous Platinum

Nanoporous electrodes are representative electrode materials for diverse applications, such as energy conversion devices and sensors. Recently, selectivity based on the size of ions arising from nanoporous structures has been applied to capacitive deionization, electrochemical supercapacitors, and conductometry. Herein, we explored the selectivity based on the size of the redox molecules on the electrochemical reaction at the nanoporous Pt electrode with extremely small (1–2 nm) and uniform pores by linear sweep voltammetry and AC impedance spectroscopy. Among primary alcohols with sizes smaller than that of the pores, we observed exceptional selective enhancement in the case of methanol due to its smallest size, despite all the alcohols having a similar reaction mechanism. These findings may provide an insight into electrochemical analysis and electrocatalysis based on nanoporous structures.