Doping Shortens the Metal/Metal Distance and Promotes OH Coverage in Non-Noble Acidic Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalysts

Ning Wang, Pengfei Ou, Rui Kai Miao, Yuxin Chang, Ziyun Wang, Sung Fu Hung, Jehad Abed, Adnan Ozden, Hsuan Yu Chen, Heng Liang Wu, Jianan Erick Huang, Daojin Zhou, Weiyan Ni, Lizhou Fan, Yu Yan, Tao Peng, David Sinton, Yongchang Liu, Hongyan Liang*, Edward H. Sargent*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Scopus citations

Abstract

Acidic water electrolysis enables the production of hydrogen for use as a chemical and as a fuel. The acidic environment hinders water electrolysis on non-noble catalysts, a result of the sluggish kinetics associated with the adsorbate evolution mechanism, reliant as it is on four concerted proton-electron transfer steps. Enabling a faster mechanism with non-noble catalysts will help to further advance acidic water electrolysis. Here, we report evidence that doping Ba cations into a Co3O4 framework to form Co3-xBaxO4 promotes the oxide path mechanism and simultaneously improves activity in acidic electrolytes. Co3-xBaxO4 catalysts reported herein exhibit an overpotential of 278 mV at 10 mA/cm2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte and are stable over 110 h of continuous water oxidation operation. We find that the incorporation of Ba cations shortens the Co-Co distance and promotes OH adsorption, findings we link to improved water oxidation in acidic electrolyte.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7829-7836
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume145
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 12 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Colloid and Surface Chemistry

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