Oxygen Isotope Labeling Experiments Reveal Different Reaction Sites for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction on Nickel and Nickel Iron Oxides

Nickel iron oxide is considered a benchmark nonprecious catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, the nature of the active site in nickel iron oxide is heavily debated. Here we report direct spectroscopic evidence for the different active sites in Fe‐free and Fe‐containing Ni oxides. Ultrathin layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were used as defined samples of metal oxide catalysts, and ¹⁸O‐labeling experiments in combination with in situ Raman spectroscopy were employed to probe the role of lattice oxygen as well as an active oxygen species, NiOO^?, in the catalysts. Our data show that lattice oxygen is involved in the OER for Ni and NiCo LDHs, but not for NiFe and NiCoFe LDHs. Moreover, NiOO^? is a precursor to oxygen for Ni and NiCo LDHs, but not for NiFe and NiCoFe LDHs. These data indicate that bulk Ni sites in Ni and NiCo oxides are active and evolve oxygen via a NiOO^? precursor. Fe incorporation not only dramatically increases the activity, but also changes the nature of the active sites.     

Construction of a Nanoporous Highly Crystalline Hexagonal Boron Nitride from an Amorphous Precursor for Catalytic Dehydrogenation

Hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN) is regarded as a graphene analogue and exhibits important characteristics and vast application potentials. However, discovering a facile method for the preparation of nanoporous crystalline h‐BN nanosheets (h‐BNNS) is still a challenge. Herein, a novel and simple route for the conversion of amorphous h‐BN precursors into highly crystalline h‐BNNS was achieved through a successive dissolution–precipitation/crystallization process in the presence of magnesium. The h‐BNNS has high crystallinity, high porosity with a surface area of 347 m² g^?1, high purity, and enhanced thermal stability. Improved catalytic performance of crystalline h‐BNNS was evidenced by its much higher catalytic efficiency in the dehydrogenation of dodecahydro‐N‐ethylcarbazole, compared with its amorphous h‐BN precursor, as well as other precious‐metal‐loaded heterogeneous catalysts.     

Sodium Cobalt Metaphosphate as an Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction Catalyst in Alkaline Solution

Sodium cobalt metaphosphate [NaCo(PO₃)₃] has CoO octahedra (CoO₆) and shows superior oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity in alkaline solution, comparable with the state‐of‐the‐art precious‐metal RuO₂ catalyst. OER catalysts of this metaphosphate are prepared by combustion (Cb) and solid‐state (SS) methods. The combustion‐assisted method offers a facile synthesis and one‐step carbon composite formation. Unusually high catalytic activity was observed in NCoM‐Cb‐Ar and could be due to chemical coupling effects between NaCo(PO₃)₃ and partially graphitized carbon. This novel electrocatalyst exhibits very small overpotential of 340 mV with high mass activity of 532 A g^?1. Good charge transfer abilities and chemical coupling between NaCo(PO₃)₃ and amorphous carbon gives the OER activity in NCoM‐Cb‐Ar.     

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.     

Amorphous Nanocages of Cu‐Ni‐Fe Hydr(oxy)oxide Prepared by Photocorrosion For Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution

Electrochemical water splitting requires efficient, low‐cost water oxidation catalysts to accelerate the sluggish kinetics of the water oxidation reaction. A rapid photocorrosion method is now used to synthesize the homogeneous amorphous nanocages of Cu‐Ni‐Fe hydr(oxy)oxide as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The as‐fabricated product exhibits a low overpotential of 224 mV on a glassy carbon electrode at 10 mA cm^?2 (even lower down to 181 mV when supported on Ni foam) with a Tafel slope of 44 mV dec^?1 for OER in an alkaline solution. The obtained catalyst shows an extraordinarily large mass activity of 1464.5 A g^?1 at overpotential of 300 mV, which is the highest mass activity for OER. This synthetic strategy may open a brand new pathway to prepare copper‐based ternary amorphous nanocages for greatly enhanced oxygen evolution.     

Electrodeposition at Highly Negative Potentials of an Iron-Cobalt Oxide Catalyst for Use in Electrochemical Water Splitting

Earth-abundant transition metal-based catalysts have been extensively investigated for their applicability in water electrolysers to enable overall water splitting to produce clean hydrogen and oxygen. In this study a Fe−Co based catalyst is electrodeposited in 30 seconds under vigorous hydrogen evolution conditions to produce a high surface area material that is active for both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This catalyst can achieve high current densities of 600 mAcm⁻² at an applied potential of 1.6 V (vs RHE) in 1 M NaOH with a Tafel slope value of 48 mV dec⁻¹ for the OER. In addition, the HER can be facilitated at current densities as high as 400 mA cm⁻² due to the large surface area of the material. The materials were found to be predominantly amorphous but did contain crystalline regions of CoFe₂O₄ which became more evident after the OER indicating interesting compositional and structural changes that occur to the catalyst after an electrocatalytic reaction. This rapid method of creating a bimetallic oxide electrode for both the HER and OER could possibly be adopted to other bimetallic oxide systems suitable for electrochemical water splitting.     

Bimetallic Metal‐Organic Framework‐Derived Nanosheet‐Assembled Nanoflower Electrocatalysts for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Non‐noble metal‐based metal–organic framework (MOF)‐derived electrocatalysts have recently attracted great interest in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here we report a facile synthesis of nickel‐based bimetallic electrocatalysts derived from 2D nanosheet‐assembled nanoflower‐like MOFs. The optimized morphologies and large Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area endow FeNi@CNF with efficient OER performance, where the aligned nanosheets can expose abundant active sites and benefit electron transfer. The complex nanoflower morphologies together with the synergistic effects between two metals attributed to the OER activity of the Ni‐based bimetallic catalysts. The optimized FeNi@CNF afforded an overpotential of 356 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm^?2 with a Tafel slope of 62.6 mV dec^?1, and also exhibited superior durability with only slightly degradation after 24 hours of continuous operation. The results may inspire the use of complex nanosheet‐assembled nanostructures to explore highly active catalysts for various applications.     

Preferential Cation Vacancies in Perovskite Hydroxide for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is an ideal model to study the relationship between the activity and the surface properties of catalysts. Defect engineering has been extensively developed to tune the electrocatalytic activity for OER. Compared to the anion vacancies in metal oxides, cation vacancies are more challenging to selectively generate, and the insight into the structure and activity of cation vacancies‐rich catalysts are lacked. Herein, using SnCoFe perovskite hydroxide as a precursor, abundant Sn vacancies on the surface were preferentially produced by Ar plasma. Sn vacancies could be preferentially produced as confirmed by the X‐ray absorption spectra, probably owing to the lower lattice energy and weaker chemical bonds of Sn(OH)₄. The Sn vacancies promoted the exposure of active CoFe sites, resulting in an amorphous surface layer, modulated the conductivity, and thus enhanced the OER performance.     

Pomegranate‐Inspired Design of Highly Active and Durable Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Rechargeable Metal–Air Batteries

Rational design of highly active and durable electrocatalysts for oxygen reactions is critical for rechargeable metal–air batteries. Herein, we report the design and development of composite electrocatalysts based on transition metal oxide nanocrystals embedded in a nitrogen‐doped, partially graphitized carbon framework. Benefiting from the unique pomegranate‐like architecture, the composite catalysts possess abundant active sites, strong synergetic coupling, enhanced electron transfer, and high efficiencies in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The Co₃O₄‐based composite electrocatalyst exhibited a high half‐wave potential of 0.842 V for ORR, and a low overpotential of only 450 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm^?2 for OER. A single‐cell zinc–air battery was also fabricated with superior durability, holding great promise in the practical implementation of rechargeable metal–air batteries.     

Shifting Oxygen Charge Towards Octahedral Metal: A Way to Promote Water Oxidation on Cobalt Spinel Oxides

Cobalt spinel oxides are a class of promising transition metal (TM) oxides for catalyzing oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Their catalytic activity depends on the electronic structure. In a spinel oxide lattice, each oxygen anion is shared amongst its four nearest transition metal cations, of which one is located within the tetrahedral interstices and the remaining three cations are in the octahedral interstices. This work uncovered the influence of oxygen anion charge distribution on the electronic structure of the redox‐active building block Co?O. The charge of oxygen anion tends to shift toward the octahedral‐occupied Co instead of tetrahedral‐occupied Co, which hence produces strong orbital interaction between octahedral Co and O. Thus, the OER activity can be promoted by pushing more Co into the octahedral site or shifting the oxygen charge towards the redox‐active metal center in CoO₆ octahedra.     

A Surface‐Oxide‐Rich Activation Layer (SOAL) on Ni2Mo3N for a Rapid and Durable Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is key to renewable energy technologies such as water electrolysis and metal–air batteries. However, the multiple steps associated with proton‐coupled electron transfer result in sluggish OER kinetics and catalysts are required. Here we demonstrate that a novel nitride, Ni₂Mo₃N, is a highly active OER catalyst that outperforms the benchmark material RuO₂. Ni₂Mo₃N exhibits a current density of 10 mA cm^?2 at a nominal overpotential of 270 mV in 0.1 m KOH with outstanding catalytic cyclability and durability. Structural characterization and computational studies reveal that the excellent activity stems from the formation of a surface‐oxide‐rich activation layer (SOAL). Secondary Mo atoms on the surface act as electron pumps that stabilize oxygen‐containing species and facilitate the continuity of the reactions. This discovery will stimulate the further development of ternary nitrides with oxide surface layers as efficient OER catalysts for electrochemical energy devices.     

Carbon‐Based Metal‐Free Catalysts for Electrocatalysis beyond the ORR

Besides their use in fuel cells for energy conversion through the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), carbon‐based metal‐free catalysts have also been demonstrated to be promising alternatives to noble‐metal/metal oxide catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in metal–air batteries for energy storage and for the splitting of water to produce hydrogen fuels through the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). This Review focuses on recent progress in the development of carbon‐based metal‐free catalysts for the OER and HER, along with challenges and perspectives in the emerging field of metal‐free electrocatalysis.     

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.     

A Reliable Aerosol‐Spray‐Assisted Approach to Produce and Optimize Amorphous Metal Oxide Catalysts for Electrochemical Water Splitting

An aerosol‐spray‐assisted approach (ASAA) is proposed and confirmed as a precisely controllable and continuous method to fabricate amorphous mixed metal oxides for electrochemical water splitting. The proportion of metal elements can be accurately controlled to within (5±5) %. The products can be sustainably obtained, which is highly suitable for industrial applications. ASAA was used to show that Fe₆Ni₁₀O_x is the best catalyst among the investigated Fe‐Ni‐O_x series with an overpotential of as low as 0.286 V (10 mA cm^?2) and a Tafel slope of 48 mV/decade for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction. Therefore, this work contributes a versatile, continuous, and reliable way to produce and optimize amorphous metal oxide catalysts.     

Controlled Assembly of Cu/Co-Oxide Beaded Nanoclusters on Thiolated Graphene Oxide Nanosheets for High-Performance Oxygen Evolution Catalysts

The use of water splitting modules is highly desired for the sustainable production of H₂ as a future energy carrier. However, the sluggish kinetics and demand of high anodic potential are the bottlenecks for half-the cell oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which severely hamper the overall conversion efficiency. Although transition metal oxides based electrocatalysts have been envisioned as cost-effective and potential contenders for this quest, nevertheless, their low conductivity, instability, and limited number of active sites are among the common impediments that need to be addressed to eventually enhance their inherent catalytic potential for enhanced OER activity. Herein, the controlled assembly of transition metal oxides, that is, Cu@CuO_x nanoclusters (NCs, ≈2 nm) and Co@CoO_x beaded nanoclusters (BNCs, ≈2 nm), on thiol-functionalized graphene oxide (G-SH) nanosheets is reported to form novel and highly efficient electrocatalysts for OER. The thiol (-SH) functionality was incorporated by selective epoxidation on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) to achieve chemically exfoliated nanosheets to enhance its conductivity and trapping ability for metal oxides in nanoscale dimensions (≈2 nm). During the electrocatalytic reaction, overpotentials of 290 mV and 310 mV are required to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² for BNCs and NCs, respectively, and the catalysts exhibit tremendous long-term stability (≈50 h) in purified alkaline medium (1 m KOH) with no dissolution in the electrolyte. Moreover, the smaller Tafel slopes (54 mV/dec for BNCs and 66 mV/dec for NCs), and a Faradic efficiency of approximately 96 % indicate not only the selectivity but also the tailored heterogeneous electrons transfer (HET) rate, which is required for fast electrode kinetics. It is anticipated that such ultrasmall metal oxide nanoclusters and their controlled assembly on a conducting surface (G-SH) may offer high electrochemical accessibility and a plethora of active sites owing to the drastic decrease in dimensions and thus can synergistically ameliorate the challenging OER process.     

Coupling Magnetic Single‐Crystal Co2Mo3O8 with Ultrathin Nitrogen‐Rich Carbon Layer for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Transition‐metal oxides as electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) provide a promising route to face the energy and environmental crisis issues. Although palmeirite oxide A₂Mo₃O₈ as OER catalyst has been explored, the correlation between its active sites (tetrahedral or octahedral) and OER performance has been elusive. Now, magnetic Co₂Mo₃O₈@NC‐800 composed of highly crystallized Co₂Mo₃O₈ nanosheets and ultrathin N‐rich carbon layer is shown to be an efficient OER catalyst. The catalyst exhibits favorable performance with an overpotential of 331 mV@10 mA cm^?2 and 422 mV@40 mA cm^?2, and a full water‐splitting electrolyzer with it as anode catalyst shows a cell voltage of 1.67 V@10 mA cm^?2 in alkaline. Combined HAADFSTEM, magnetic, and computational results show that factors influencing the OER performance can be attributed to the tetrahedral Co sites (high spin, t₂³e⁴), which improve the OER kinetics of rate‐determining step to form *OOH.     

硫掺杂镍铁层状双氢氧化物的氧析出电催化性能

氧析出反应(OER)是裂解水、二氧化碳还原、以及可充电的锌空电池等许多技术中重要的半反应,但受限于其迟缓的反应动力学,开发高效的氧析出催化剂迫在眉睫.在OER出反应中,性能较好的非贵金属催化剂主要是第四周期过渡金属的一些化合物,如氧化物、氢氧化物、硫化物、硒化物、磷化物等等.在这些材料中,镍铁双金属化合物被认为是最优的氧析出材料,尤其是镍铁层状双氢氧化物(Ni Fe-LDHs)它拥有较大的电化学活性面积以暴露较多活性位点,同时镍铁两种过渡金属元素存在协同效应,使得其具有良好的催化性能.然而,这一类材料的OER性能仍然有优化的空间.研究表明,将硫化物氧化得到的氢氧化物会有少量的硫元素残留,这种硫残留的氢氧化物拥有十分优异的OER性能.为了进一步认识硫的引入对Ni Fe-LDHs的OER行为的影响,本文通过水热法合成了硫掺杂的Ni Fe-LDHs,考察了硫的掺杂量对催化剂性能的影响,验证了微量硫的存在对Ni Fe-LDHs的OER性能的贡献.扫描电镜图片显示,水热合成的催化剂是厚度为几十纳米的薄片,拥有较高的比表面积, X射线荧光光谱分析证明合成的硫掺杂Ni Fe-LDHs中镍铁的元素比例为4:1,而且硫的掺杂量并不影响催化剂的形貌和其中镍铁元素比.X射线光电子能谱分析表明,硫原子的引入使得铁原子结合能降低,即硫与铁的相互作用部分降低了铁的价态,这种硫和铁的相互作用能够优化OER反应中间体OH*与O*在铁活性位点上的吸附自由能,降低氧析出反应的过电势.电化学测试表明,拥有0.43%的硫掺杂Ni Fe-LDHs拥有最好的氧析出性能, 10 m A cm^-1下超电势仅有257 m V, Tafel斜率61.5 m V dec^-1.此后,随着硫掺杂量的提升,其性能先保持稳定,随后有所下降.在稳定测试中,硫掺杂的镍铁层状双氢氧化物在10 m Acm-1电流密度下循环30 h后过电位仅衰减14 m V.在对稳定性测试后的催化剂进行表征表明,催化剂发生了轻微了变形,但这对性能的影响不大.综上,本文提供了一种简便的通过非金属元素掺杂调控过渡金属氧化物的结构和电子态的方法,有望为设计高活性OER电催化剂提供新思路.     

A Molecular Approach to Manganese Nitride Acting as a High Performance Electrocatalyst in the Oxygen Evolution Reaction

The scalable synthesis of phase‐pure crystalline manganese nitride (Mn₃N₂) from a molecular precursor is reported. It acts as a superiorly active and durable electrocatalyst in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) from water under alkaline conditions. While electrophoretically deposited Mn₃N₂ on fluorine tin oxide (FTO) requires an overpotential of 390 mV, the latter is substantially decreased to merely 270 mV on nickel foam (NF) at a current density of 10 mA cm^?2 with a durability of weeks. The high performance of this material is due to the rapid transformation of manganese sites at the surface of Mn₃N₂ into an amorphous active MnO_x overlayer under operation conditions intimately connected with metallic Mn₃N₂, which increases the charge transfer from the active catalyst surface to the electrode substrates and thus outperforms the electrocatalytic activity in comparison to solely MnO_x‐based OER catalysts.     

Low Ruthenium Content Confined on Boron Carbon Nitride as an Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for Acidic Oxygen Evolution Reaction

To date, only a few noble metal oxides exhibit the required efficiency and stability as oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts under the acidic, high-voltage conditions that exist during proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE). The high cost and scarcity of these catalysts hinder the large-scale application of PEMWE. Here, we report a novel OER electrocatalyst for OER comprised of uniformly dispersed Ru clusters confined on boron carbon nitride (BCN) support. Compared to RuO₂, our BCN-supported catalyst shows enhanced charge transfer. It displays a low overpotential of 164 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², suggesting its excellent OER catalytic activity. This catalyst was able to operate continuously for over 12 h under acidic conditions, whereas RuO₂ without any support fails in 1 h. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm that the interaction between the N on BCN support and Ru clusters changes the adsorption capacity and reduces the OER energy barrier, which increases the electrocatalytic activity of Ru.