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Abstract

Glassy carbon is frequently used in electrochemical research due to its presumed robust electrochemical performance. Although it is widely utilized as a rotating disc electrode material, the modification of glassy carbon during electro-catalytic process is rarely emphasized or characterized. In this report, we investigated the structural modification of glassy carbon imparted by electrochemical oxidation in acidic media and compared the behavior with graphite. The functional groups generated from electrochemical oxidation in both electrodes possess similar electrochemical properties. However, above an oxidation potential of 1.8 V (vs. reversibly hydrogen electrode), glassy carbon exhibits a lower electrochemical capacitance compared to graphite. We propose that the existence of electrochemically inactive species, originating from the non-graphitic portion of glassy carbon is attributed to such deterioration. Additionally, high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) images corroborate how electrochemical oxidation prevails for glassy carbon electrodes at oxidative potentials. The overall analysis leads us to propose a corrosion mechanism for glassy carbon in acidic solution.