The authors report an ammonia‐assisted in situ cation‐exchange method for the synthesis of dodecagon N‐doped PdCoNi carbon‐based nanosheets (Pd‐e‐NiCo‐PBA‐C) and explore the catalytic performance. Pd‐e‐NiCo‐PBA‐C exerts extremely low overpotential and Tafel slope for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) both in acidic and alkaline media, only 47 mV, 55 mV dec−1 (pH = 0, HER) and 147 mV, 67 mV dec−1 (pH = 14, HER), and 309 mV, 67 mV dec−1 (pH = 14, OER), outperforming commercial IrO2‐based and Pt‐based catalysts. In addition, after 5000 cycles, the linear sweep voltammetry curve shows a negligible shift, indicating excellent stability performance. To test its overall water‐splitting performance, Pd‐e‐NiCo‐PBA‐C is applied as both cathode and anode materials. A high current density of 33 mA cm−2 at a battery voltage of 1.6 V is obtained, with the catalytic activity maintained at 97.3% after over 50 h. To get a further insight into the superior OER and HER performance, theoretical calculations are carried out, the better performance originates from the affinity difference of Pd and Ni atoms for gas atoms, and the replacement of inert atoms can decrease the binding energy and enhance the electrocatalytic activity.
Understanding what controls the reaction rate on iridium-based catalysts is central to designing more active and stable electrocatalysts for the water oxidation reaction in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers. Here, we quantify the densities of redox active centres and probe their binding strengths on amorphous IrOx and rutile IrO2 using a combination of operando time-resolved optical spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMs). Firstly, our results show that although IrOx exhibits an order of magnitude higher geometry current density compared to IrO2, the intrinsic rates of reaction per active state, on IrOx and IrO2 are comparable at a given potential. Secondly, we establish a quantitative experimental correlation between the intrinsic rate of water oxidation and the energetics of the active states. We use density functional theory (DFT) based models to provide a molecular scale interpretation of our data. We find that the *O species formed at water oxidation potentials have repulsive adsorbate-adsorbate interactions, and thus increasing their coverage weakens their binding and promotes the rate-determining O-O bond formation. Finally, we provide insights into how the intrinsic water oxidation kinetics can be increased by optimising both the binding energy and the interaction strength of the catalytically active states.
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