Alloying is a powerful tool that can improve the electrocatalytic performance and viability of diverse electrochemical renewable energy technologies. Herein, we enhance the activity of Pd-based electrocatalysts via Ag-Pd alloying while simultaneously lowering precious metal content in a broad-range compositional study focusing on highly comparable Ag-Pd thin films synthesized systematically via electron-beam physical vapor co-deposition. Cyclic voltammetry in 0.1 M KOH shows enhancements across a wide range of alloys; even slight alloying with Ag (e.g. Ag0.1Pd0.9) leads to intrinsic activity enhancements up to 5-fold at 0.9 V vs. RHE compared to pure Pd. Based on density functional theory and x-ray absorption, we hypothesize that these enhancements arise mainly from ligand effects that optimize adsorbate–metal binding energies with enhanced Ag-Pd hybridization. This work shows the versatility of coupled experimental-theoretical methods in designing materials with specific and tunable properties and aids the development of highly active electrocatalysts with decreased precious-metal content.
Thomas F (2020) Nitride or Oxynitride? Elucidating the Composition-Activity Relationships in Molybdenum Nitride Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction. Chemistry of Materials.
With promising activity and stability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), transition metal (TM) nitrides are an interesting class of non-platinum group catalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Here we report an active thin film nickel nitride catalyst synthesized through a reactive sputtering method. In RDE testing in 0.1M HClO4 electrolyte, the crystalline nickel nitride film achieved high ORR activity and selectivity to 4 electron ORR. It also exhibited good stability during 10 h and 40 h chronoamperometry (CA) measurements in acid and alkaline, respectively. A combined experiment-theory approach, with detailed ex-situ characterization with TEM and NEXAFS to reveal a mixed Ni4N/Ni3N structure with an amorphous surface oxide and DFT calculations to provide insight into the surface structure during catalysis, is highlighted. Design strategies for activity and stability improvement through alloying and nanostructuring are discussed.
Silver-based bimetallic catalysts
for the oxygen reduction reaction
(ORR) are promising for a wide variety of renewable energy technologies,
including alkaline fuel cells and metal-air batteries. The activity
of bimetallic catalysts can sometimes surpass that of either constituent
element, but the origin of the enhanced performance is still debated.
At a given active site, two complementary mechanisms are proposed
to explain the performance improvements: the binding energy of intermediate
adsorbates can be tuned by direct electronic contributions from the
alloying element or by changes in the bond lengths from lattice distortion.
To distinguish between these effects and elucidate the respective
roles of each element in the bimetallic, it is critical to study catalysts
at the molecular scale under reaction conditions. In this work, we
use in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) alongside density
functional theory (DFT) to show that direct electronic rather than
geometric effects are the primary cause of improved ORR activity in
a bimetallic CuAg catalyst. Our results indicate that the local bonding
as well as the electronic structure of Ag are virtually unchanged
by the presence of Cu, whereas the electronic states of Cu in CuAg
are significantly altered. DFT calculations support these experimental
findings. We show strong evidence that the activity of the bimetallic
CuAg catalyst exceeds the sum of the activities of Cu and Ag, not
by incremental improvement of the active Ag sites, but by creating
highly active Cu-centered catalytic sites. The insight that the main
role of Ag in bimetallic catalysts may be to promote its fellow element
through local electronic interactions provides a new design principle
for engineering the next generation of bimetallic catalysts for the
ORR and beyond.
The development of inexpensive and abundant catalysts with high activity, selectivity, and stability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is imperative for the widespread implementation of fuel cell devices. Herein, we present a combined theoretical−experimental approach to discover and design first-row transition metal antimonates as excellent electrocatalytic materials for the ORR. Theoretically, we identify first-row transition metal antimonatesMSb 2 O 6 , where M = Mn, Fe, Co, and Nias nonprecious metal catalysts with good oxygen binding energetics, conductivity, thermodynamic phase stability, and aqueous stability. Among the considered antimonates, MnSb 2 O 6 shows the highest theoretical ORR activity based on the 4e − ORR kinetic volcano. Experimentally, nanoparticulate transition metal antimonate catalysts are found to have a minimum of a 2.5-fold enhancement in intrinsic mass activity (on transition metal mass basis) relative to the corresponding transition metal oxide at 0.7 V vs RHE in 0.1 M KOH. MnSb 2 O 6 is the most active catalyst under these conditions, with a 3.5-fold enhancement on a per Mn mass activity basis and 25-fold enhancement on a surface area basis over its antimony-free counterpart. Electrocatalytic and material stability are demonstrated over a 5 h chronopotentiometry experiment in the stability window identified by theoretical Pourbaix analysis. This study further highlights the stable and electrically conductive antimonate structure as a framework to tune the activity and selectivity of nonprecious metal oxide active sites for ORR catalysis.
In this perspective, we highlight results of a research consortium devoted to advancing understanding of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysis as a means to inform fuel cell science. We demonstrate...
A combined thermal
and solvent vapor annealing process for block
copolymer self-assembly is demonstrated. Films of cylinder-forming
poly(styrene-b-dimethylsiloxane) (SD45, 45.5 kg/mol,
fPDMS = 31%) were preheated for 2 min above the glass transition
temperature of both blocks, followed by immediate introduction into
a chamber containing room temperature saturated vapors of toluene
and n-heptane. After quenching in air, microdomains
had better order than those obtained from thermal or solvent annealing
alone. The short time during which the film is both heated and exposed
to solvent vapor played an important role in determining the final
morphology.
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