Photochemical Route for Accessing Amorphous Metal Oxide Materials for Water Oxidation Catalysis

Abstract

Large-scale electrolysis of water for hydrogen generation requires better catalysts to lower the kinetic barriers associated with the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Although most OER catalysts are based on crystalline mixed-metal oxides, high activities can also be achieved with amorphous phases. Methods for producing amorphous materials, however, are not typically amenable to mixed-metal compositions. We demonstrate that a low-temperature process, photochemical metal-organic deposition, can produce amorphous (mixed) metal oxide films for OER catalysis. The films contain a homogeneous distribution of metals with compositions that can be accurately controlled. The catalytic properties of amorphous iron oxide prepared with this technique are superior to those of hematite, whereas the catalytic properties of a-Fe(100-y-z)Co(y)Ni(z)O(x) are comparable to those of noble metal oxide catalysts currently used in commercial electrolyzers.

Bio‐Inspired Leaf‐Mimicking Nanosheet/Nanotube Heterostructure as a Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Catalyst

“…The current density at 1.65 V versus RHE reaches 51.2 mA cm −2 , which is 1.6 times higher than that of the CoO x ‐air catalyst (31.5 mA cm −2 ) and 4.5 times higher than that of IrO x nanoparticles (11.5 mA cm −2 ). The onset potentials of the CoO x ‐vacuum and CoO x ‐air catalysts are 1.46 and 1.48 V, respectively, which are substantial lower than almost all of the previously reported CoO x OER catalysts9, 10, 11, 12, 18, 21, 23, 24, 26, 40 (see summarized references in Table S1, Supporting Information).…”

Tailoring the shape of amorphous nanomaterials: recent developments and applications

“…Effort has also been devoted to the study of local atomic environment [8,9] and lithium transport [10] in other kinds of amorphous materials. Furthermore, their specific atomic arrangement enables amorphous materials to exhibit high performance in mechanics and catalysis [11][12][13][14], as well as interesting magnetic properties [15][16][17]. However, the low specific surface area of bulk amorphous materials severely restricts their applications.…”

Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)-assisted hydrothermal synthesis and enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance of oxygen-rich bismuth oxychlorides

“…Heterogeneous photocatalysis has attracted considerable attention due to its potential applications in energy storage and environmental remediation [1][2][3]. Under irradiation, semiconductorbased photocatalysts are able to split water into H 2 and O 2 [2], destruct environmental pollutants [3], and reduce CO 2 with H 2 O into hydrocarbon fuels [4].…”

“…Under irradiation, semiconductorbased photocatalysts are able to split water into H 2 and O 2 [2], destruct environmental pollutants [3], and reduce CO 2 with H 2 O into hydrocarbon fuels [4]. Among generally used photocatalysts, titania (TiO 2 ) is the most widely researched one that, however, usually suffers from the low quantum efficiency and incapability of visible-light response.…”