Electrocatalytic oxygen evolution from water on a Mn(III-V) dimer model catalyst--a DFT perspective

A complete water oxidation and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) cycle is monitored by means of density functional theory (DFT). A biomimetic model catalyst, comprising a μ-OH bridged Mn(III-V) dimer truncated by acetylacetonate ligand analogs and hydroxides is employed. The reaction cycle is divided into four electrochemical hydrogen abstraction steps followed by a series of chemical steps. The former employ the tyrosine/tyrosyl redox couple acting as electron and proton sink, thus determining the reference potential. Stripping hydrogen from water leads to the formation of two highly unstable Mn(V)=O/Mn(IV)-O˙ moieties, which subsequently combine to form a μ-peroxy O-O bond. O(2) evolution results from subsequent consecutive replacement of the remaining Mn-O bonds by water. A Zener "spintronic" type mechanism for virtually barrierless O(2) evolution is found. The applicability of DFT is discussed and extended to include the rate-limiting steps in the OER. Rather than attempting to compute transition states where KS-DFT is unreliable, an upper bound for the activation barrier of the O-O bond formation step is estimated from the hessians of the relevant intermediates.     

Frontispiece: Activating Lattice Oxygen in Spinel ZnCo2O4 through Filling Oxygen Vacancies with Fluorine for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution

The development of productive catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) remains a major challenge requiring significant progress in both mechanism and material design. Conventionally, the thermodynamic barrier of lattice oxidation mechanism (LOM) is lower than that of absorbate evolution mechanism (AEM) because the former can overcome certain limitations. However, controlling the OER pathway from the AEM to the LOM by exploiting the intrinsic properties of the catalyst remains challenging. Herein, we incorporated F anions into the oxygen vacancies of spinel ZnCo₂O₄ and established a link between the electronic structure and the OER catalytic mechanism. Theoretical density calculations revealed that F upshifts the O 2p center and activates the redox capability of lattice O, successfully triggering the LOM pathway. Moreover, the high electronegativity of F anions is favourable for balancing the residual protonation, which can stabilize the structure of the catalyst.     

A Plasma‐Triggered O−S Bond and P−N Junction Near the Surface of a SnS2 Nanosheet Array to Enable Efficient Solar Water Oxidation

A photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell can split water into hydrogen and oxygen with the assistance of solar illumination. However, its application is still limited by excessive bulk carrier recombination and sluggish surface oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics. Taking SnS₂ as an example, a promising layered optoelectronic semiconductor, Ar plasma treatment strategy was used to introduce a SnS/SnS₂ P?N heterojunction and O?S bond near the surface of a SnS₂ nanosheet array, simultaneously increasing the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs in the bulk and lowering the OER overpotential at the surface. The onset potential of the plasma‐treated SnS₂ nanosheet array shifts negatively to 0.16 V, and the photocurrent density at 1.23 V vs. RHE boosts to 2.15 mA cm^?2, which is 7 times that of pristine SnS₂. This work demonstrates a facile plasma treatment strategy to modulate the energy band structure and surface chemical states for improved PEC performance.     

Advances in understanding the role of surface hole formation in heterogeneous water oxidation

The electrochemical oxidation of water to molecular oxygen, that is, the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is a key anodic reaction that supplies electrons and protons for many technologically interesting reduction processes, such as carbon dioxide reduction and nitrogen fixation. Because the OER is a slow reaction, it needs to be facilitated by (photo)electrocatalysts. To develop such catalysts, advances in the mechanistic understanding of the OER are critical. In this opinion, we focus on a key aspect of the OER, namely, how the accumulation of oxidative charge (‘holes’) on the surface of a catalyst triggers O ? O bond formation. We discuss recent advances in understanding the factors that drive surface hole formation at specific sites.     

Oxygen evolution in spin-sensitive pathways

The overall performance of water electrolysis suffers from the high kinetic barrier in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode. Considerable effort has been made on the fundamental understandings of the reaction mechanisms of OER. Recently, the attention has been given to the OER on magnetic catalysts, which is believed being able to promote the kinetics of an OER process from singlet reactants to triplet oxygen. The process in principle involves spin selective electron transfer. Here, we discuss the effects of spin in OER based on the recent advances and summarize our recently proposed mechanisms of the OER in spin-sensitive pathways under the lattice oxygen oxidation mechanism, the interaction of two M?O entity mechanism, and the adsorbate evolution mechanism.     

Ultrathin Spinel‐Structured Nanosheets Rich in Oxygen Deficiencies for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation

Electrochemical water splitting is a clean technology for H₂ fuels, but greatly hindered by the slow kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, a series of spinel‐structured nanosheets with oxygen deficiencies and ultrathin thicknesses were designed to increase the reactivity and the number of active sites of the catalysts, which were then taken as an excellent platform for promoting the water oxidation process. Theoretical investigations showed that the oxygen vacancies confined in the ultrathin nanosheet could lower the adsorption energy of H₂O, leading to increased OER efficiency. As expected, the NiCo₂O₄ ultrathin nanosheets rich in oxygen vacancies exhibited a large current density of 285 mA cm^?2 at 0.8 V and a small overpotential of 0.32 V, both of which are superior to the corresponding values of bulk samples or samples with few oxygen deficiencies and even higher than those of most reported non‐precious‐metal catalysts. This work should provide a new pathway for the design of advanced OER catalysts.     

Single-crystalline layered double hydroxides with rich defects and hierarchical structure by mild reduction for enhancing the oxygen evolution reaction

The oxygen evolution reaction(OER) with sluggish reaction kinetics and large overpotential is the critical reaction in water splitting that is promising for energy storage and conversion. Layered double hydroxides(LDHs), due to their unique lamellar structure and flexibility of chemical component, are very competing material candidates for OER. Herein, the morphology structure and the electronic structure of LDHs were simultaneously tuned to improve the OER catalytic activity by mild solvothermal reduction using ethylene glycol. The increased surface area, the introduction of oxygen vacancies and the construction of hierarchical structure greatly enhanced the electro-catalytic activity of LDHs for OER. The as-prepared LDHs showed a lower over-potential as low as 276 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm~(-2), and a small Tafel slope of 40.3 mV dec~(-1) accompanied with good stability. This work provides an efficient way to the design and optimization of advanced catalysts in the future.     

Activating a Peroxo Ligand for C−O Bond Formation

Dioxygen activation for effective C?O bond formation in the coordination sphere of a metal is a long‐standing challenge in chemistry for which the design of catalysts for oxygenations is slowed down by the complicated, and sometimes poorly understood, mechanistic panorama. In this context, olefin–peroxide complexes could be valuable models for the study of such reactions. Herein, we showcase the isolation of rare “Ir(cod)(peroxide)” complexes (cod=1,5‐cyclooctadiene) from reactions with oxygen, and then the activation of the peroxide ligand for O?O bond cleavage and C?O bond formation by transfer of a hydrogen atom through proton transfer/electron transfer reactions to give 2‐iradaoxetane complexes and water. 2,4,6‐Trimethylphenol, 1,4‐hydroquinone, and 1,4‐cyclohexadiene were used as hydrogen atom donors. These reactions can be key steps in the oxy‐functionalization of olefins with oxygen, and they constitute a novel mechanistic pathway for iridium, whose full reaction profile is supported by DFT calculations.     

A Theoretical Study on the Mechanism of Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution on BiVO4 in Aqueous Solution

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is regarded as one of the key issues in achieving efficient photocatalytic water splitting. Monoclinic scheelite BiVO₄ is a visible‐light‐responsive semiconductor which has proved to be effective for oxygen evolution. Recently, the synthesis of a series of monoclinic BiVO₄ single crystals was reported, and it was found that the (010), (110), and (011) facets are highly exposed and that the photocatalytic O₂ evolution activity depends on the degree of exposure of the (010) facets. To explore the properties of and photocatalytic water oxidation reaction on different facets, DFT calculations were performed to investigate the geometric structure, optical properties, electronic structure, water adsorption, and the whole OER free‐energy profiles on BiVO₄ (010) and (011) facets. The calculated results suggest both favorable and unfavorable factors for OER on the (010) and the (011) facets. Due to the combined effects of the above‐mentioned factors, different facets exhibit quite different photocatalytic activities.     

Synergistic Effect between Metal–Nitrogen–Carbon Sheets and NiO Nanoparticles for Enhanced Electrochemical Water‐Oxidation Performance

Identifying effective means to improve the electrochemical performance of oxygen‐evolution catalysts represents a significant challenge in several emerging renewable energy technologies. Herein, we consider metal–nitrogen–carbon sheets which are commonly used for catalyzing the oxygen‐reduction reaction (ORR), as the support to load NiO nanoparticles for the oxygen‐evolution reaction (OER). FeNC sheets, as the advanced supports, synergistically promote the NiO nanocatalysts to exhibit superior performance in alkaline media, which is confirmed by experimental observations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Our findings show the advantages in considering the support effect for designing highly active, durable, and cost‐effective OER electrocatalysts.     

烧绿石结构Y2-xMgxRu2O7-δ(x=0.05、0.1、0.15)的制备及其OER催化活性

采用溶胶-凝胶法制备系列的镁掺杂Y2-xMgxRu2O7-δ(YMRO?x,x=0.05、0.1、0.15)催化剂,通过X射线光电子能谱对其进行价态分析发现,采用小离子半径的Mg^2+取代烧绿石结构中处于A位的部分Y^3+,进一步增加了烧绿石结构中氧缺陷数量,也引发了部分Ru^4+转变为Ru^5+,释放电子到表面,促进了氧析出反应(OER)。其中YMRO?0.1催化剂的含氧缺陷浓度最高,其催化活性最高。在达到10 mA·cm^-2电流密度时,相比于RuO2(358 mV)、Y2Ru2O7-δ(294 mV),YMRO?0.1仅需施加265 mV过电位并且其Tafel斜率相对于RuO2(88 mV·dec^-1)和Y2Ru2O7-δ(64 mV·dec^-1)仅为45 mV·dec^-1。此外,由于氧空位增多,即活性位点增多,降低了自由基从金属位点脱附的吉布斯自由能,促进了OER催化性能。第一性原理表明,替位原子MgY与氧空位形成复合体,可以降低氧空位形成能,同时随着Mg^2+引入,带隙变小,电荷迁移能也随之变小,进而可以得到更高的催化活性。     

Density functional theory and CCSD(T) evaluation of ionization potentials,redox potentials,and bond energies related to zirconocene polymerization catalysts

Quantum-mechanical-based computational design of molecular catalysts requires accurate and fast electronic structure calculations to determine and predict properties of transition-metal complexes. For Zr-based molecular complexes related to polyethylene catalysis, previous evaluation of density functional theory (DFT) and wavefunction methods only examined oxides and halides or select reaction barrier heights. In this work, we evaluate the performance of DFT against experimental redox potentials and bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) for zirconocene complexes directly relevant to ethylene polymerization catalysis. We also examined the ability of DFT to compute the fourth atomic ionization potential of zirconium and the effect the basis set selection has on the ionization potential computed with CCSD(T). Generally, the atomic ionization potential and redox potentials are very well reproduced by DFT, but we discovered relatively large deviations of DFT-calculated BDEs compared to experiment. However, evaluation of BDEs with CCSD(T) suggests that experimental values should be revisited, and our CCSD(T) values should be taken as most accurate.     

Water oxidation electrocatalyzed by an efficient Mn3O4/CoSe2 nanocomposite

The design of efficient, cheap, and abundant oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts is crucial to the development of sustainable energy sources for powering fuel cells. We describe here a novel Mn(3)O(4)/CoSe(2) hybrid which could be a promising candidate for such electrocatalysts. Possibly due to the synergetic chemical coupling effects between Mn(3)O(4) and CoSe(2), the constructed hybrid displayed superior OER catalytic performance relative to its parent CoSe(2)/DETA nanobelts. Notably, such earth-abundant cobalt (Co)-based catalyst afforded a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) at a small overpotential of ~0.45 V and a small Tafel slope down to 49 mV/decade, comparable to the best performance of the well-investigated cobalt oxides. Moreover, this Mn(3)O(4)/CoSe(2) hybrid shows good stability in 0.1 M KOH electrolyte, which is highly required to a promising OER electrocatalyst.     

DFT计算研究碱性条件下γ-FeOOH(010)上氧析出反应机理

一个高效经济的氧析出反应(OER)催化剂是大范围应用太阳能转化能源的关键.在众多有潜力的OER催化剂中,金属氢氧化物,尤其是FeOOH表现出很高的OER活性.我们采用DFT+U研究了γ-FeOOH(010)表面上OER反应机理;得到了OH– 和空穴对的化学势,并将OH–阴离子包含在反应机理中,以此来说明碱性条件下阳极的OER过程.随后分析了催化剂中OH-,O-和Fe-终止的表面上OER反应路径.含有OH-,O-终止的表面上,O2分子是通过OH与表面氧物种(–OH*和–O*)反应,或二个表面氧物种相结合而形成的.在Fe-终止的表面上,O2只能通过首先在Fe位上吸附OH而形成.不同形式表面上O2析出的化学势决定步骤取决于每个路径中基元步骤自由能的变化.结果表明,O2的形成需要重建表面Fe位,因此,有利于部分暴露Fe位的条件也将促进O2的形成.     

Chemical Recognition of Active Oxygen Species on the Surface of Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts

Owing to the transient nature of the intermediates formed during the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on the surface of transition metal oxides, their nature remains largely elusive by the means of simple techniques. The use of chemical probes is proposed, which, owing to their specific affinities towards different oxygen species, unravel the role played by these species on the OER mechanism. For that, tetraalkylammonium (TAA) cations, previously known for their surfactant properties, are introduced, which interact with the active oxygen sites and modify the hydrogen bond network on the surface of OER catalysts. Combining chemical probes with isotopic and pH‐dependent measurements, it is further demonstrated that the introduction of iron into amorphous Ni oxyhydroxide films used as model catalysts deeply modifies the proton exchange properties, and therefore the OER mechanism and activity.     

Bio-inspired Design of Bidirectional Oxygen Reduction and Oxygen Evolution Reaction Molecular Electrocatalysts

The proper utilization of renewable energy sources has emerged as a major challenge in our pursuit of a sustainable and carbon-neutral energy landscape. Small molecule activation is a key component for proper utilization of renewable energy resources, where O₂/H₂O redox couple is reckoned to be a potential game changer. In this regard, electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have become the prime interest of catalyst designers. Typically, these ORR and OER electrocatalysts are developed distinctly; however, very soon, the requirement of a bidirectional ORR/OER electrocatalyst becomes obvious for practical applicability and rapid energy transduction purposes. A bidirectional catalyst is defined as a catalyst capable of driving a redox reaction in opposing directions. This review has portrayed the development of enzyme structure-inspired design of molecular bidirectional ORR/OER catalysts. The strategic incorporation of secondary and outer coordination sphere features has significantly enhanced the performance of these catalysts, which can be monitored via the key catalytic parameters. These bifunctional OER/ORR catalysts are vital for metal-air battery and fuel cell applications and appropriately poised to lay the foundation for an efficient, economical, and eco-friendly pathway for sustainable energy usage with the rational assembly of energy converting and storage devices.     

Oxygen evolution reaction: a perspective on a decade of atomic scale simulations

Multiple strategies to overcome the intrinsic limitations of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have been proposed by numerous research groups. Despite the substantial efforts, the driving force required for water oxidation is largely making the reaction inefficient. In the present work, we collected published studies involving DFT calculations for the OER, with the purpose to understand why the progress made so far, for lowering the overpotential of the reaction, is relatively small. The data revealed that the universal scaling relationship between HO* and HOO* intermediates is still present and robust, despite the variety in methods and structures used for calculating the binding energies of the intermediates. On the other hand, the data did not show a clear trend line regarding the O* binding. Our analysis suggested that trends in doped semiconducting oxides behave very differently from those in other oxides. This points towards a computational challenge in describing doped oxides in a realistic manner. We propose a way to overcome these computational challenges, which can be applied to simulations corresponding to doped semiconductors in general.

Multiple strategies to overcome the intrinsic limitations of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) have been proposed by numerous research groups.     

Red Bean Pod Derived Heterostructure Carbon Decorated with Hollow Mixed Transition Metals as a Bifunctional Catalyst in Zn-Air Batteries

Design and synthesis of low-cost and efficient bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in Zn-air batteries are essential and challenging. We report a facile method to synthesize heterostructure carbon consisting of graphitic and amorphous carbon derived from the agricultural waste of red bean pods. The heterostructure carbon possesses a large surface area of 625.5 m² g⁻¹, showing ORR onset potential of 0.89 V vs. RHE and OER overpotential of 470 mV at 5 mA cm⁻². Introducing hollow FeCo nanoparticles and nitrogen dopant improves the bifunctional catalytic activity of the carbon, delivering ORR onset potential of 0.93 V vs. RHE and OER overpotential of 360 mV. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) O K-edge map suggests the presence of localized oxygen on the FeCo nanoparticles, suggesting the oxidation of the nanoparticles. Zn-air battery with these carbon-based catalysts exhibits a peak power density as high as 116.2 mW cm⁻² and stable cycling performance over 210 discharge/charge cycles. This work contributes to the advancement of bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts while converting agricultural waste into value-added material.     

Active Electron Density Modulation of Co3O4-Based Catalysts Enhances their Oxygen Evolution Performance

Despite the fact that many strategies have been developed to improve the efficiency of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), the precise modulation of the surface electronic properties of catalysts to improve their catalytic activity is still challenging. Herein, we demonstrate that the surface active electron density of Co₃O₄ can be effectively regulated by an argon-ion irradiation method. X-ray photoelectron and synchrotron x-ray absorption spectroscopy, UV photoelectron spectrometry, and DFT calculations show that the surface active electron density band center of Co₃O₄ has been upshifted, leading to a significantly enhanced absorption capability of the oxo group. The optimized Co₃O₄-based catalysts exhibit an excellent overpotential of 260 mV at 10 mA cm⁻² and Tafel slope of 54 mV dec⁻¹, superior to the capability of the benchmark RuO₂, representing one of the best Co-based OER catalysts. This approach could guide the future rational design and discovery of ideal electrocatalysts.