Synthesis of hierarchical transition metal oxyhydroxides in aqueous solution at ambient temperature and their application as OER electrocatalysts

First-row(3 d)transition metal oxyhydroxides have attracted increasing attention due to their various advantages.Although investigating the oxidation mechanism and processing such materials into hierarchical architectures are greatly desired for their further development,it remains unclear how the oxidation state change occurs,and efforts to produce hierarchical oxyhydroxides in compliance with high ecological and economic standards have progressed slowly.Here,we describe a facile one-step coprecipitation route for the preparation of hierarchical CoOOH,NiOOH and MnOOH,which involves the diffusion of NH_(3)originating from ammonium hydroxide solution into an aqueous solution containing metal ion salts and K_(2)S_(2)O_(8).Comprehensive characterizations by scanning electron microscope,transmission electron microscopy,X-ray diffraction analysis,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and in situ p H measurement demonstrated that K_(2)S_(2)O_(8)induces the oxidation state change of metal ion species after the start of hydrolysis.Meanwhile,it was found that,benefiting from the OH–concentration gradient created by the NH_(3)diffusion method and the suitable growth environment provided by the presence of K_(2)S_(2)O_(8)(high nucleation rate and secondary nucleation),the formation of hierarchical oxyhydroxide structures can be realized in aqueous solution at ambient temperature without the use of heat energy and additional structure-directing agents.The hierarchical CoOOH structures are performed as the electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media,which exhibit good activity with an overpotential of 320 m V at 10 m A cm^(-2)and a low Tafel slope of 59.6 m V dec^(–1),outperforming many congeneric electrocatalysts.Overall,our study not only provides important insights to understand the formation mechanism of hierarchical oxyhydroxides,but also opens up new opportunities for the preparation of hierarchical oxyhydroxides via a facile,green and low-cost method.

Metal-oxoacid-mediated oxyhydroxide with proton acceptor to break adsorption energy scaling relation for efficient oxygen evolution

Metal oxyhydroxides(MOOH)generated from irreversible reconstructions of transition metal compounds are intrinsic active species for oxygen evolution reaction,whose activities are still constrained by sluggish deprotonation kinetics and inherent adsorption energy scaling relations.Herein,we construct a tunable proton acceptor(TPA)on oxyhydroxides by in-situ reconstruction of metal oxoacids such as NiC2O4to accelerate deprotonation and break adsorption energy scaling relations during OER.The modified C_(2)O_(4)^(2-)as a TPA can easily extract H of*OH(forming*HC2O4intermediate)and then promote deprotonation by the transmitted hydrogen bond with*OOH along conjugated(H...)O=C-O(-H)chain.As a result,Ni OOH-C2O4shows non-concerted proton-electron transfer and improved deprotonation rate,and delivers a good OER activity(270 mV@10 mA cm-2).The conjugate acidity coefficient(pKa)of the modified oxoacid group can be a descriptor for TPA selection.This TPA strategy can be universally applied to Co-,Fe-,and Ni-based oxyhydroxides to facilitate OER efficiency.

In-situ surface self-reconstruction in ternary transition metal dichalcogenide nanorod arrays enables efficient electrocatalytic oxygen evolution

Water splitting has received more and more attention because of its huge potential to generate clean and renewable energy.The highly active and durable oxygen evolution reaction(OER)catalysts play a decisive factor in achieving efficient water splitting.The identification of authentic active origin under the service conditions can prompt a more reasonable design of catalysts together with well-confined micro-/nano-structures to boost the efficiency of water splitting.Herein,Fe,Co,and Ni ternary transition metal dichalcogenide(FCND)nanorod arrays on Ni foam are purposely designed as an active and stable low-cost OER pre-catalyst for the electrolysis of water in alkaline media.The optimized FCND catalyst demonstrated a lower overpotential than the binary and unary counterparts,and a 27-fold rise in kinetic current density at the overpotential of 300 m V compared to the nickel dichalcogenide counterpart.Raman spectra and other structural characterizations at different potentials reveal that the in-situ surface self-reconstruction from FCND to ternary transition metal oxyhydroxides(FCNOH)on catalyst surfaces initiated at about 1.5 V,which is identified as the origin of OER activity.The surface selfreconstruction towards FCNOH also enables excellent stability,without fading upon the test for 50 h.

Coupling ferromagnetic ordering electron transfer channels and surface reconstructed active species for spintronic electrocatalysis of water oxidation

Sluggish reaction kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction(OER), resulting from multistep proton-coupled electron transfer and spin constriction, limits overall efficiency for most reported catalysts. Herein, using modeled ZnFe_(2-x)Ni_xO_(4)(0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) spinel oxides, we aim to develop better OER electrocatalyst through combining the construction of ferromagnetic(FM) ordering channels and generation of highly active reconstructed species. The number of symmetry-breaking Fe–O–Ni structure links to the formation of FM ordering electron transfer channels. Meanwhile, as the number of Ni^(3+)increases, more ligand holes are formed, beneficial for redirecting surface reconstruction. The electro-activated ZnFe_(1.6)Ni_(0.4)O_(4) shows the highest specific activity, which is 13 and 2.5 times higher than that of ZnFe_(2)O_(4) and unactivated ZnFe_(1.6)Ni_(0.4)O_(4), and even superior to the benchmark IrO_(2) under the overpotential of 350 mV. Applying external magnetic field can make electron spin more aligned, and the activity can be further improved to 39 times of ZnFe_(2)O_(4). We propose that intriguing FM exchange-field interaction at FM/paramagnetic interfaces can penetrate FM ordering channels into reconstructed oxyhydroxide layers, thereby activating oxyhydroxide layers as spin-filter to accelerate spin-selective electron transfer. This work provides a new guideline to develop highly efficient spintronic catalysts for water oxidation and other spin-forbidden reactions.