Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid

Jian Wang; Yunze Zhang; Ying Wang; Junsic  Cho; Ting-Shan Chan; Yang  Ha; Shu-Chih Haw; Cheng-Wei  Kao; Ziyi Wang; Jia Lei; Min Ju; Jiayi  Tang; Tong Liu; Siyuan  Zhao; Yawen Dai; Aleksandra  Baron-Wiechec; Fu-Rong Chen; Wenxiong Wang; Chang Hyuck  Choi; Zongping  Shao; Meng Ni

doi:10.1039/D4EE00189C

Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid

Jian Wang^*
, Yunze Zhang
, Ying Wang^*
, Junsic Cho
, Ting-Shan Chan
, Yang Ha
, Shu-Chih Haw
, Cheng-Wei Kao
, Ziyi Wang
, Jia Lei
, Min Ju
, Jiayi Tang
, Tong Liu
, Siyuan Zhao
, Yawen Dai
, Aleksandra Baron-Wiechec
, Fu-Rong Chen
, Wenxiong Wang
, Chang Hyuck Choi
, Zongping Shao^*

Meng Ni^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Developing noble metal-free electrocatalysts (NMFEs) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is tremendously challenging in acid. Despite extensive research efforts, few reported NMFEs can compete with Ru/Ir oxides for acidic OERs. Here, we report a heterostructure-engineering method to break the activity–stability limit of OER electrocatalysts and yield a noble-metal-free oxide that competes with RuO₂ in terms of OER specific activity and stability in acid. Via a set of correlative operando characterization techniques, heterostructured Co₃O₄/MnO₂ suppressed the in situ reconstruction of Co₃O₄ and MnO₂, and mitigated the electrochemical cycling-accelerated catalyst leaching, thus improving the acidic OER stability. Moreover, first-principles calculations supported that the synergy of Co and Mn in Co₃O₄/MnO₂ lowered the theoretical OER overpotentials. The optimized Co₃O₄/MnO₂ achieved an activity of 10 mA cm⁻²at 319 ± 1.2 mV overpotential, and it demonstrated low degradation during the varying-current stability test (up to 200 mA cm⁻²) for 100 hours, making it among the best NMFEs for acidic OERs. Moreover, the promising performance of Co₃O₄/MnO₂ as the anodic catalyst was also validated in a proton-conducting membrane water electrolysis cell. © 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5972-5983
Number of pages	12
Journal	Energy & Environmental Science
Volume	17
Issue number	16
Online published	9 Jul 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EE00189C
Publication status	Published - 21 Aug 2024

Funding

The authors acknowledge the support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong through the project ECS 21308523, the National Natural Science Foundation of China through the project 52302312, the Environmental Protection Department of Hong Kong through the project GTF202220159, the City University of Hong Kong through projects 9667262, 9610537 and 7005921, the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province through project 2022A1515010212 and 2024A1515013020, the Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province through project 2024NSFSC0275, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials and Technology for Energy Conversion, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology through project MATEC2022KF008. Y. Wang thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22373097) and the Department of Science and Technology of Jilin Province through project 20220101056JC. Chang Hyuck Choi thanks the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) grant by the Korean government (MSIT) (No. CAP21011-100). M. Ni acknowledges the support (Project no. C5031-20G) from the Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee, HK SAR.

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Wang, J., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., Cho, J., Chan, T.-S., Ha, Y., Haw, S.-C., Kao, C.-W., Wang, Z., Lei, J., Ju, M., Tang, J., Liu, T., Zhao, S., Dai, Y., Baron-Wiechec, A., Chen, F.-R., Wang, W., Choi, C. H., ... Ni, M. (2024). Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid. Energy & Environmental Science, 17(16), 5972-5983. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EE00189C

@article{263196f67f024650a6a4af6db67dab2d,

title = "Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid",

abstract = "Developing noble metal-free electrocatalysts (NMFEs) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is tremendously challenging in acid. Despite extensive research efforts, few reported NMFEs can compete with Ru/Ir oxides for acidic OERs. Here, we report a heterostructure-engineering method to break the activity–stability limit of OER electrocatalysts and yield a noble-metal-free oxide that competes with RuO2 in terms of OER specific activity and stability in acid. Via a set of correlative operando characterization techniques, heterostructured Co3O4/MnO2 suppressed the in situ reconstruction of Co3O4 and MnO2, and mitigated the electrochemical cycling-accelerated catalyst leaching, thus improving the acidic OER stability. Moreover, first-principles calculations supported that the synergy of Co and Mn in Co3O4/MnO2 lowered the theoretical OER overpotentials. The optimized Co3O4/MnO2 achieved an activity of 10 mA cm−2 at 319 ± 1.2 mV overpotential, and it demonstrated low degradation during the varying-current stability test (up to 200 mA cm−2) for 100 hours, making it among the best NMFEs for acidic OERs. Moreover, the promising performance of Co3O4/MnO2 as the anodic catalyst was also validated in a proton-conducting membrane water electrolysis cell. {\textcopyright} 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",

author = "Jian Wang and Yunze Zhang and Ying Wang and Junsic Cho and Ting-Shan Chan and Yang Ha and Shu-Chih Haw and Cheng-Wei Kao and Ziyi Wang and Jia Lei and Min Ju and Jiayi Tang and Tong Liu and Siyuan Zhao and Yawen Dai and Aleksandra Baron-Wiechec and Fu-Rong Chen and Wenxiong Wang and Choi, \{Chang Hyuck\} and Zongping Shao and Meng Ni",

year = "2024",

month = aug,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1039/D4EE00189C",

language = "English",

volume = "17",

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journal = "Energy \& Environmental Science",

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Wang, J , Zhang, Y, Wang, Y, Cho, J, Chan, T-S, Ha, Y, Haw, S-C, Kao, C-W, Wang, Z , Lei, J, Ju, M, Tang, J, Liu, T, Zhao, S, Dai, Y, Baron-Wiechec, A, Chen, F-R , Wang, W, Choi, CH, Shao, Z & Ni, M 2024, 'Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid', Energy & Environmental Science, vol. 17, no. 16, pp. 5972-5983. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EE00189C

TY - JOUR

T1 - Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid

AU - Wang, Jian

AU - Zhang, Yunze

AU - Wang, Ying

AU - Cho, Junsic

AU - Chan, Ting-Shan

AU - Ha, Yang

AU - Haw, Shu-Chih

AU - Kao, Cheng-Wei

AU - Wang, Ziyi

AU - Lei, Jia

AU - Ju, Min

AU - Tang, Jiayi

AU - Liu, Tong

AU - Zhao, Siyuan

AU - Dai, Yawen

AU - Baron-Wiechec, Aleksandra

AU - Chen, Fu-Rong

AU - Wang, Wenxiong

AU - Choi, Chang Hyuck

AU - Shao, Zongping

AU - Ni, Meng

PY - 2024/8/21

Y1 - 2024/8/21

N2 - Developing noble metal-free electrocatalysts (NMFEs) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is tremendously challenging in acid. Despite extensive research efforts, few reported NMFEs can compete with Ru/Ir oxides for acidic OERs. Here, we report a heterostructure-engineering method to break the activity–stability limit of OER electrocatalysts and yield a noble-metal-free oxide that competes with RuO2 in terms of OER specific activity and stability in acid. Via a set of correlative operando characterization techniques, heterostructured Co3O4/MnO2 suppressed the in situ reconstruction of Co3O4 and MnO2, and mitigated the electrochemical cycling-accelerated catalyst leaching, thus improving the acidic OER stability. Moreover, first-principles calculations supported that the synergy of Co and Mn in Co3O4/MnO2 lowered the theoretical OER overpotentials. The optimized Co3O4/MnO2 achieved an activity of 10 mA cm−2 at 319 ± 1.2 mV overpotential, and it demonstrated low degradation during the varying-current stability test (up to 200 mA cm−2) for 100 hours, making it among the best NMFEs for acidic OERs. Moreover, the promising performance of Co3O4/MnO2 as the anodic catalyst was also validated in a proton-conducting membrane water electrolysis cell. © 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

AB - Developing noble metal-free electrocatalysts (NMFEs) for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is tremendously challenging in acid. Despite extensive research efforts, few reported NMFEs can compete with Ru/Ir oxides for acidic OERs. Here, we report a heterostructure-engineering method to break the activity–stability limit of OER electrocatalysts and yield a noble-metal-free oxide that competes with RuO2 in terms of OER specific activity and stability in acid. Via a set of correlative operando characterization techniques, heterostructured Co3O4/MnO2 suppressed the in situ reconstruction of Co3O4 and MnO2, and mitigated the electrochemical cycling-accelerated catalyst leaching, thus improving the acidic OER stability. Moreover, first-principles calculations supported that the synergy of Co and Mn in Co3O4/MnO2 lowered the theoretical OER overpotentials. The optimized Co3O4/MnO2 achieved an activity of 10 mA cm−2 at 319 ± 1.2 mV overpotential, and it demonstrated low degradation during the varying-current stability test (up to 200 mA cm−2) for 100 hours, making it among the best NMFEs for acidic OERs. Moreover, the promising performance of Co3O4/MnO2 as the anodic catalyst was also validated in a proton-conducting membrane water electrolysis cell. © 2024 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85199366516

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85199366516&origin=recordpage

U2 - 10.1039/D4EE00189C

DO - 10.1039/D4EE00189C

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 1754-5692

VL - 17

SP - 5972

EP - 5983

JO - Energy & Environmental Science

JF - Energy & Environmental Science

IS - 16

ER -

Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid

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Heterostructure boosts a noble-metal-free oxygen-evolving electrocatalyst in acid

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GTF_EPD: Thermally-Integrated Water Desalination—Electrolysis System for Clean Hydrogen Generation

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