A mechanical, high surface area and solvent-free ‘powder-to-electrode’ fabrication method for screening OER catalysts

Abstract

The screening of new OER materials routinely involves fabricating electrodes from powders using methods which are often time consuming and may involve using solvents and/or conductive materials that can alter the OER activity of the powder. Herein, a new mechanical, solvent-free method for fabricating electrodes for OER is described in which a electroactive material under test, mixed with a small amount of PTFE powder (ca. 10 wt%), is pressed onto Pt powder to create a permanent, robust electrode that can be used in a rotating disc electrode setup. This new method of fabricating electrodes is compared to the well-known dropcast on Glassy Carbon (GC) method, using commercially available materials: RuO 2 , Co 3 O 4 and NiO. The results show that the mechanical route produces much better OER performances, in terms of overpotential and stability, for the commercial metal oxide on the pressed discs when compared to the dropcast GC method. Finally, it is shown that this mechanical, high surface area, solvent-free electrode fabrication technique can also be achieved using silver, rather than platinum, as the conducting, support material.

Ruthenium Nanoparticles for Catalytic Water Splitting

“…The majority of ruthenium‐based NP systems described as HER/OER catalysts have been evaluated electrochemically after deposition onto the surface of conducting electrodes, of which glassy carbon (GC) electrodes are the most common example. However, the use of pressed Pt powder discs as an alternative to oxidizable C‐based electrodes has also been reported for OER applications . Because gases are continuously evolving in both the HER and OER, the use of a GC rotating disk electrode (RDE‐GC) is highly recommended.…”

“…However,t he use of pressed Pt powder discs as an alternative to oxidizable C-based electrodes has also been reported for OER applications. [17,18] Because gases are continuously evolving in both the HER and OER, the use of aG Cr otatingd isk elec- trode (RDE-GC) is highlyr ecommended. Disk rotation resultsi n al aminarf low of solution towardsa nd across the electrode that controls the steady-state currenti ns pite of diffusion.…”

Amorphous Cobalt Boride Nanosheets Directly Grown on Nickel Foam: Controllable Alternately Dipping Deposition for Efficient Oxygen Evolution

“…One fatal disadvantage of this conventional method is that the binding between the current collector and the catalysts is not so compact, and the catalysts will inevitably fall off during the electrocatalysis process with the gas evolution. Besides, the electrocatalytic activity will also be brought down if binders/adhesives are used to improve the catalyst stability …”

Insulating Polymer‐Hydrogel Nanocomposite Thin Film ‐ Based Catalytic Electrode for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…Mills and coworkers have discussed the relevance of 'powder-to-electrode' fabrication, in particular the utility of a mechanical, solvent-free approach. [3][4][5] The problem has also been addressed by replacing common binders like Nafion having relatively low electrical conductivity, by carbon material generated from polymer precursors; [6] the latter step requires calcination at 450°C. Enhancement of electrode surface wettability using electrochemically inert but super-hydrophilic carbon nitride that enables also wider exposure of the catalyst sites, is another interesting approach, [7] but again involves high temperature (550°C) calcination and multiple fabrication steps.…”